The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is helping veterans with medical skills and experience transition from the military to medicine. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced $2.8 million in grants and plans to award academic credit for prior military training and experience. In a partnership with the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will align accreditation requirements for nursing programs with enlisted medical training so medics and corpsmen can receive academic credit for military health care service. Award recipients will also develop career ladders that include academic and social supports, career counseling, mentors, and links with veteran service organizations and community health systems. Over 4 years, the grants will enable more than 1,000 veterans to obtain baccalaureate nursing degrees.
Through the Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR): Veterans’ Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (VBSN) program, 9 institutions have been awarded funding: University of Alabama at Birmingham; Jacksonville University in Florida; Florida International University in Miami; University of South Florida in Tampa; Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Michigan; State University of New York in Stony Brook; University of Texas at Arlington; Hampton University in Virginia; and Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
The College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi has already started working to turn veterans into nurses. With funding from the NEPQR program, the college established the eLine Military program, an online bachelor of science in nursing training program offered to Texas residents who are veterans or military personnel and have prior medical experience. Now it is working with the Medical Education and Training Command in San Antonio, Texas, which has been designated as the central site for all health care-related training for the Tri-Service. The Texas project will focus on bridging the gap between enlisted training and academic coursework, improving the documentation of health care training, and working with other key stakeholders, such as state licensure boards.
The HRSA will give funding priority to nursing schools that offer proveteran learning environments, recruit and support veterans interested in pursuing nursing careers, and facilitate academic credit for enlisted health care training.
“Veterans know the value of working in teams and have a strong commitment to service,” said HRSA Administrator Mary K. Wakefield, PhD, RN. “And these are just the skills and talents our health care delivery system needs right now.”
For more information, visit http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/nursing.