The Department of Veterans Affairs is adding five nursing schools to its network of institutions participating in the VA Nursing Academy, a five-year pilot program designed to develop its teaching faculty, improve recruitment and retention, and create new educational and research opportunities.
It said 36,000 qualified applicants were turned away in 2007 from entry-level baccalaureate degree programs in nursing schools because of insufficient numbers of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space and clinical mentors.
The VA currently provides clinical education for about 100,000 health professional trainees annually, including students from more than 600 schools of nursing.
The five-year, $59 million program is growing from 10 schools to 15 with the addition of Western Carolina University, Asheville, N.C, the University of Alabama, Birmingham, Ala., the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Pace University, Manhattan and Brooklyn, N.Y., and Waynesburg University, Pittsburgh.