"We deeply appreciate the profound generosity of Blue Cross
and Blue Shield of Florida," said UNF President John A. Delaney.
"This meaningful gift enables the School of Nursing to sustain
the SUCCEED grant and will help to increase student enrollment
in our nursing program."
UNF
will use the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida gift to hire
a professor to work with a data base, which is the first of
its kind in Jacksonville, allowing the School of Nursing to
more adeptly schedule clinical rotations for all schools and
health care organizations in the Jacksonville area, plus staff
a patient simulation lab at Shands Jacksonville for clinical
education of UNF and UF nursing students as well as Shands staff.
This will allow UNF to increase enrollment of baccalaureate
nursing students, upgrade technology and optimize the placement
of students at clinical sites. Ultimately, all nursing programs
in the North Florida area will benefit from the ability to proficiently
schedule clinical rotations for their students.
"The
University of Florida is grateful for the generosity of Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and their dedication to improving
nursing education," said Bernard Machen, UF president. "UF has
been a leader in advocating better education for nurses, and
this gift to UF will enable us to address the critical need
for new nursing faculty. We are happy to be able to collaborate
with the University of North Florida and Blue Cross and Blue
Shield of Florida to increase the number of well-educated nurses
and ultimately improve health care for all Floridians."
Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Florida's gift to UF will help expand
and enhance the North Florida PhD Consortium, which links UF's
PhD in Nursing Science Program to students at sites located
at UNF, Florida A&M University, Florida State University and
the University of West Florida through a cooperative degree
approach. This innovative approach provides access to doctoral-level
nursing education in an efficient and cost-effective way through
the use of sophisticated distance technology. Funds will also
help maintain and improve distance delivery technology, add
a Web-based component, fund scholarships for selected students
as well as travel costs for students and faculty.
"We
recognize how important collaboration is to achieve meaningful
progress in easing the nursing shortage," said Robert I. Lufrano,
M.D., chairman and chief executive officer, Blue Cross and Blue
Shield of Florida. "Through our Generation RN program, we are
able to support nurse education as well as address a critical
workforce and health care need in Florida."
Generation
RN is a public/private partnership initiated by Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of Florida to build an expanded, stable and culturally
diverse nurse workforce in Florida. Combined with state matching
dollars and other private support, BCBSF-endowed scholarships
fund the education of more than 200 nursing students each year.
Endowed professorships, graduate student scholarships and support
for innovative programs help ensure sustained nurse growth.
With
support from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida gift,
the SUCCEED project will increase enrollments in UNF and UF
nursing programs. Sixty-eight additional students will be admitted
to both accelerated baccalaureate program options and to the
new clinical nurse leader tracks. The accelerated bachelor's
of nursing is a fast-track educational program for students
with non-nursing bachelor's degrees, while the clinical nurse
leader is a master's degree program, preparing professional
nurses to design, coordinate and evaluate clinical care for
patients.
For more information, visit www.bluefoundationfl.org.
