For immediate release: Aug. 31, 2006

GALVESTON, Texas — A research project is under way at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to determine whether a regional approach to sharing resources for nurse education on the Gulf Coast will increase the capacity of schools of nursing to educate more students without increasing the number of faculty.

The Regional Innovations in Nursing Education project started in January 2006 and runs through August 2007. The $345,000 project is funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the John S. Dunn Research Foundation.

Project director Patricia L. Richard, associate dean for education technology in the UTMB School of Nursing, says testing of the regional concept starts in September. Two types of options are being explored: sharing a resource from one entity with other academic and clinical project partners at a single or multiple locations, and developing a standardized process for functions used by all partners that will simplify the process and regionalize it for all partners.

“The driving force behind this study is the nursing shortage and the need to educate more nurses in a timely manner,” Richard said. “The goal is to identify common functions among schools of nursing that absorb faculty time, thus reducing the amount of time they have to devote to teaching. Through regionalization of functions, we hope to have an impact on the amount of time faculty spend on non-teaching activities and free them up to teach.”

A second objective of the study is to create the Virtual Center for Excellence in Nursing Education. “This will be a resource site for faculty, students and individuals interested in nursing as a career,” Richard said. “Each school of nursing in the region will be able to link to the site for recruitment purposes. They will also be able to share resources between schools for students enrolled in their programs.”

The academic partners are the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Texas Woman’s University, Alvin Community College, College of the Mainland, Galveston College, Houston Community College, Lee College, North Harris Montgomery Community College, San Jacinto College Central and Wharton Community Junior College. Methodist Hospital in Houston is the clinical partner.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
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Galveston, Texas 77555-0144
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