Texas A&M College of Nursing Mobile Care Access through Rural Engagement and Education (TXAN Mobile CARE).
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Project Title: Texas A&M College of Nursing Mobile Care Access through Rural Engagement and Education (TXAN Mobile CARE) Organization: Texas A&M University Health Science Center (HSC), College of Nursing Address: 8447 Riverside Parkway, MS1359, Bryan, TX 77807 Project Director: Cindy Weston, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC Contact Numbers: (979) 436-0178 (phone); (979) 436-9711 (Fax) Email address: cweston@tamu.edu Website Address: https://nursing.tamu.edu/ Funding Requested: $4,000,000 Funding Preference: We request a funding preference under Qualification 1: Substantially benefit rural populations (Attachment 7). Qualification 2: Service area includes medically underserved areas and populations. Project Overview: Texas A&M University-HSC, College of Nursing is a leader in preparing family nurse practitioners (FNPs) and registered nurses (RNs) to fill workforce gaps in rural and underserved areas of Texas. The purpose of this project, TXAN Mobile CARE, is to launch a mobile FNP-led school-based clinic to improve access to care through six rural independent school districts (ISDs) and expand experiential learning opportunities for nursing students. TXAN mobile CARE will address health disparity in rural immunizations rates and access to care while preparing nurses with cultural appropriateness to address social determinants of health in community-based settings. Project Goals include: 1). Establish a nurse-led mobile primary care unit to provide school-based clinics in five rural Counties of central Texas and increase access to care to at least 2000 unique individuals by grant Year 4. 2). Expand the nursing workforce by preparing 240 BSN graduates and 24 FNP graduates to provide culturally sensitive, community-based care through longitudinal experiential clinical learning in mobile school-based clinics in five rural Counties of central Texas in a collaborative practice model with doctoral psychology students, public health students, and dental students. 3). Provide didactic curricular enhancement to deliver culturally competent rural care and address social determinants of health. 4). Increase the diversity of the nursing workforce by improved recruitment and retention of nurses from diverse, rural, and disadvantaged backgrounds through career exploration and clinical immersion in rural school based mobile clinics. Project Specifics: Through academic-clinical partnership with rural ISDs, TXAN Mobile CARE will launch community-based primary care and wellness events to include annual physicals, immunizations, prevention and screening of substance/opioid use disorder, and tele-behavioral health services. TXAN Mobile CARE will incorporate experiential learning for both BSN and FNP students in collaborative care with the psychology students delivering tele-behavioral health services, public health students partnering in health education, and dental students partnering for oral screening. The enhanced BSN curriculum will include relevant community experiences, culminating in a population focused capstone project that addresses rural care, social determinants of care, and/or substance or opioid use disorder. The enhanced MSN-FNP curriculum will address nuances to care in rural populations. A priority strategy of TXAN Mobile CARE is to begin the recruitment of nursing workforce amongst the rural population served with opportunities for health career exploration school students at the ISDs served in TXAN Mobile CARE. Nursing students address classes and involve students in community-based health events. Demographics of the six rural school districts reflect a diverse and poor population. In addition, Texas A&M has launched a strategic plan to admit students from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds through a holistic admissions process that considers metrics beyond GPA, class ranking, and nationally normed exam scores and favors diversity. TXAN Mobile CARE will increase access to rural primary care and create a diverse, workforce for community-based nursing.
