NDSU School of Nursing gets rural health care education grant

BY LISA GIBSON

North Dakota State University’s School of Nursing has received a $151,200 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide scholarships for students in the Doctor of Nursing Practice/Family Nurse Practitioner program. The goal is to help educate future health care professionals who will serve rural areas that grapple with a shortage.

The scholarships are available to students who participate in rural training clinics or at an Indian Health Services Clinic. They will range from $4,000 to $8,000 per semester, according to NDSU.

“We have found those students who spend time in a rural clinic have an increased likelihood of returning to a rural practice site after graduation,” says Dean Gross, assistant professor of nursing at NDSU. “With our acute shortage of rural primary care services in the region, family nurse practitioners have been filling this vital capacity.” Several counties in North Dakota are without any health care providers now, he adds.

The NDSU School of Nursing provides advanced nursing training in Fargo and at Sanford Health in Bismarck., N.D. Since 2004, more than 90 percent of NDSU’s advanced practice graduates in nursing remain within 230 miles of their training, helping to serve rural areas, according to NDSU.

“Our student applications have been on the rise — we hear how they want an on-site or face-to-face education,” Gross says. “The grant funds allow us to help defray the costs associated with graduate education at NDSU. In turn we are able to promote rural clinical sites and increase the rural primary care workforce. As a land grant institution, our goal is to improve the lives of all residents. We feel this will make a difference.” PB

Lisa Gibson Editor, Prairie Business 701.787.6753 lgibson@prairiebusinessmagazine.com