U of M School of Nursing Receives Prestigious HRSA Grant

Grant will fund project to promote evidence-based practice among public health nurses in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (Sept. 23, 2008)—The University of Minnesota School of Nursing was awarded the “Culture of Excellence: Evidence-Based Public Health Nursing Practice” grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The grant awards $950,000 over three years to promote evidence-based practice among public health nurses throughout Minnesota.

“To achieve a ‘culture of excellence’ in which evidence is quickly used in practice among public health nurses, we need to maximize partnerships across the state and region. This means linking  public health nurses from several practice environments—practice, education, consultation—to become advocates of the initiative, to be trained in its implementation, and to have access to its resources,” said HRSA Project Director Linda Olson Keller, D.N.P., R.N., F.A.A.N..

Through the adoption of evidence-based practice, the project aims to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of public health nursing programs and services, especially among medically underserved areas in rural Minnesota. Evidence-based practice is a problem-solving approach that incorporates the best possible scientific evidence, clinician’s expertise, and client preferences and values.

The “Culture of Excellence” project is multi-tiered and directs strategies at the organizational culture of Minnesota’s health departments and schools of nursing and at the practice of individual public health nurses.  Because public health nurses constitute more than 40 percent of the total public health workforce, the project will train and support public health nurse “champions” to serve as liaisons and promoters to the more than 1,500 public health nurses across the state.

“We will need to rely strongly on partnerships with the Minnesota Department of Health, local and tribal health departments, and nursing schools throughout Minnesota and the surrounding states to change how public health nurses implement evidence into their day-to-day practice,” Keller said. 

The project includes development of a Web site that will serve as a repository of evidence-based practice information. The Web site will host online learning communities in which public health nurses can rate research, discuss best practices, provide feedback on ways to implement evidence, and develop practice guidelines.

The project will develop training modules and podcasts specific to various evidence-based practice topics and will host two national Webcasts. A statewide conference, sponsored by the project, will bring together partners, sponsors, and users to disseminate lessons learned and release newly developed guidelines for implementation.

“Focusing on the incorporation of evidence into practice strengthens existing work and makes research more quickly and universally beneficial to the health of the public,” Keller said.

HRSA is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.

The University of Minnesota School of Nursing is ranked among the nation’s top nursing schools. It is a leader in nursing research and has a combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment of approximately 850 students. The school produces 55 percent of the faculty in Minnesota’s public and private nursing schools, advanced practice nurses and nurses who can assume leadership positions. It is the oldest continuing university-based school of nursing. The School of Nursing is one of six schools and colleges in the Academic Health Center, one of the most comprehensive facilities for health professionals in the nation, fostering interdisciplinary study, research and education.

Contact: Peggy Malikowski, School of Nursing, 612-625-2496 or malik025@umn.edu
Jenna Langer, Academic Health Center, 612-626-4784 or lang0712@umn.edu