UIC Nursing partners with Erie Health for fellowship

Charlie Yingling

The UIC College of Nursing is partnering with Erie FamilyHealth Centers to create a one-year, post-graduate fellowship program calledAdvancingPractice. The program will equip newly graduated advanced practiceregistered nurses to lead healthcare improvements in underserved and ruralcommunities.

The four-year-long project is funded through a $3.3-milliongrant from a U.S. Health Resources and Services Association (HRSA) initiativecalled Advanced Nursing Education – Nurse Practitioner Residency.

The goal is not to duplicate the graduate education of newadvanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), but to expand upon it. Becauseprimary care in rural and underserved settings can be particularly complex fornew nurse practitioners transitioning into practice, the fellowship year isintended to serve as a bridge, giving them an opportunity to increase and finetune healthcare and leadership skills, says Charlie Yingling, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP,UIC Nursing interim associate dean for practice and community partnerships, whowill serve as health education specialist on the grant.

“Not only are we equipping new graduates to provideexceptional in-scope care for their APRN role; we’re equipping them to leadchange in community health,” he says.

UIC Nursing is Erie’s academic partner, which is a requiredcomponent of the grant, and faculty will provide crucial aid in developingcompetency-based curricula, delivering the didactic components of thefellowship and evaluating the program.

Through a competitive process, APRNs from all over thecountry with specialties in one of four areas — family practice, pediatrics,adult gerontology and midwifery — will be selected and placed at a “home base”clinic in the Erie system. Throughout the fellowship year, they willparticipate in specialty rotations at many of Erie’s 13 other locations acrossthe Chicago area.

UIC Nursing clinical associate professor Kathryn Rugen, PhD,FNP-BC, FAAN, FAANP, a leader in the movement to establish nurse practitionerfellowship programs across the U.S., will serve as evaluation coordinator andfellowship consultant. Denise Bockwoldt, PhD, FNP-BC, CDE, clinical assistantprofessor, and Kelly Vaez, DNP, FNP-BC, clinical assistant professor, willserve as fellowship faculty.

The year of fellowship will include mentored clinicalpractice, education and training in advanced clinical procedures and complexcase management, and leadership and systems competencies.

Yingling says program leaders will be looking for applicants who want a career in community health at a federally qualified health center setting.

Source: UIC College of Nursing