The USI College of Nursing and Health Professions undergraduate nursing program has received $324,555 from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development’s Strategic Skills Initiative, a program which seeks to identify critical occupational and skill shortages throughout the state and fund grants that address those shortages.

The largest portion of the $1.2 million grant is aimed at alleviating projected shortages in southwestern Indiana’s manufacturing sector, but three sub-grants are intended to increase the capacity of the region’s nursing preparation programs. Regional officials have forecast a shortage of both registered nurses and licensed practical nurses and have identified insufficient funding, training, and academic preparation as root causes for the shortages.

With its grant, USI will obtain new simulation equipment and add nursing faculty to increase the number of nursing students in the program, and provide students with enhanced training opportunities.

Dr. Nadine Coudret, dean of the USI College of Nursing and Health Professions, said, “This grant will move our college to the forefront in computerized simulation training for students in nursing and the health professions. It merges the technology advances that are occurring in both health care and health care education. Students’ readiness for direct patient care will be significantly enhanced with this simulation training."

The grant is projected to create an additional 100 USI Baccalaureate Degree nurses by the year 2012.