Program Directors: Susan Beck, PhD, APRN, FAAN (U of U CON), Shella Stovall, MNA, RN, CAN (VA)

The VA Salt Lake City Health Care System and the University of Utah College of Nursing are committed to enhancing nursing education, practice and research. A long and positive history of innovative collaboration will be the foundation for the VANA in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Academy will be centered on Education, Practice and Research, increasing VA recruitment and retention through enhanced clinical experiences for nursing students and expanded teaching opportunities for VA nurses. The VANA-SLC will increase College of Nursing faculty presence at VASLCHCS in education, practice, research and clinical service areas and VA nurse presence at the College of Nursing.

Objective1 - Education: Expand teaching faculty at the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System and the University of Utah College of Nursing. Expansion of faculty will allow for a similar increase in student enrollment.

• Increases in student enrollment of 80 students over 5 years
• 100% of students in the traditional and accelerated (second degree) BS program will have clinical experiences at the VASLCHCS. Ten percent of all RN¬BS students will have a clinical experience at the VA
• 47 VA nurses will be enrolled in RN - BS or graduate study by the end of Year 5
• The VANA-SLC will actively seek scholarship support and recruit separating military nurses to the Teaching Nursing master's program

Objective - Practice: Expand the model in which CON-based faculty hold practice appointments as Nurse Practitioners in Primary Care and Psychiatric/Mental Health Care at the VA.

• The VASLCHCS will fill critical vacancies in practice areas through innovative placement of faculty from the College of Nursing
• The VANA-SLC will increase the number of Student Nurse Technicians from CON by 50% by the end of year 5
• The VANA-SLC will increase the number of nurses hired who have had experience in the VANA-SLC
• CON-based faculty will practice and consult on nursing units in hard-to-recruit and retain areas.

Objective 3 - Research (Yr 2-5:) Advance the program of nursing research at the VASLCHCS to serve the twin goals of improving care and enhancing career development.

• .5 School-based FTE percentage will be assigned to an Associate Chief, Nursing Service/ Research in Years 2 - 4
• A minimum of three grant proposals will be submitted over the five
• Six PhD students will be admitted to the College of Nursing from the national recruitment pool of VA facilities
• Beginning in Year 2, one new clinician-researcher teams/partnerships will be supported each year (.5 FTE)

Progress as of September 12, 2007:

Our VANA Steering Committee has been meeting regularly since we received notification July 25, 2007 of our acceptance into the VA Nursing Academy. We have been focusing on the planning and implementation of the pilot program. Specifically, we are identifying the process for recruiting and appointing VA-based and School-based faculty.

• Currently, we have identified 3.4 FTE of the 5.0 FTE allocated for School and VA based faculty and are working to appoint these individuals as CON faculty (Joint Appointments).
• We have briefed several groups throughout the VA and CON through staff meetings, Management meetings, Executive Board meetings, and will present at future townhall meeting forums about the VA Nursing Academy and our progress.
• We are discussing space and information technology needs for the VANA.
• We are clarifying the roles and responsibilities of each Program Director in the area of interviewing, evaluation of clinical faculty, evaluation of VANA program goals, and communication.
• We are working to assure that each student rotation includes clinical experience at the VASLCHCS. In doing so, we have been able to increase student rotations at the VA from 15 to 32.
• We currently have 4 VA employees enrolled in the U of U nursing programs