The key component of the project is a 10-week summer research experience that will provide minority nursing students with intensive training in health disparities research, as well as a stipend to help support their participation in the program. Participating undergraduate nursing students from the South Florida community will learn the role that Ph.D.-prepared nurses play in advancing nursing as a discipline and in addressing health disparities. It is hoped that this newly acquired knowledge will steer them towards a scientific career.
“Among the obstacles that minority nursing students face in pursuing their doctoral education are limited access to suitable mentors, economic barriers, and lack of exposure to undergraduate research experiences,” said the study’s Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor Dr. Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda. “We hypothesize that the summer research program will increase students’ interest in pursuing their doctorate degrees in health, as well as their chances of getting into Ph.D. programs.”
Every student selected for the special research training initiative will be mentored by a nurse faculty researcher who will set goals with the student, supervise his or her activities, including participation in research studies, and provide guidance on professional aims. At the end of the program, each student will prepare a scientific poster to be shared with the South Florida community and presented at a local conference.
“The support from the Florida Blue Foundation helps us reach out to a greater number of future nurse scientists at the undergraduate level,” said study Co-Investigator Dr. Mary Hooshmand, Assistant Professor of Clinical. “By encouraging gifted students from minority backgrounds to pursue a doctoral education, we hope to advance the goal of having a nursing research workforce that mirrors the increasingly diverse demographics of South Florida, and of the nation.”
The funded project helps address the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Future of Nursing (2010) report’s metrics, which call for doubling the number of doctorate-prepared nurses by 2020. Moreover, it comprises part of the rollout efforts of South Florida’s Education Act Team of the Florida Action Coalition -- the driving force implementing the IOM report’s recommendations and transforming health care through nursing in the state of Florida.
The Florida Blue Foundation, formerly the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Foundation, is a separate, philanthropic affiliate of Florida Blue, Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield company. The Foundation and its parent are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information about the Foundation, please visit www.bluefoundationfl.com. Florida Blue and the Florida Blue Foundation are on Facebook and Twitter.
Established in 1948 as South Florida’s first collegiate nursing program, the School of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Miami has a distinguished tradition of preparing nurses to provide compassionate quality care to local, national and international communities. Nursing students at the undergraduate and graduate levels are educated by renowned scholars, and exposed to a broad range of clinical experiences and cutting-edge research. Since its inception, the program has provided diverse educational opportunities for over 6,000 nursing professionals at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels. The curriculum includes degree programs leading to the BSN, the MSN, the Ph.D. and DNP degrees, as well as the BSHS (Bachelor of Science in Health Science) and BSPH (Bachelor of Science in Public Health). For more information, please visit the school website at http://www.miami.edu/sonhs
