The University at Buffalo (UB) School of Nursing has been awarded a $1.1 million Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Advanced Nursing Education training grant for nurse practitioners to work with dental students in interdisciplinary teams, sharing educational and practice experiences that improve oral and systemic care.
The grant is funded from July 2013 to June 2016, the university noted in a press release.
This year's HRSA request for proposals mirrored the Institute of Medicine's call for greater emphasis on educational programs that include interprofessional education and collaborative experiences for healthcare providers, according to project director Nancy Campbell-Heider, PhD, an associate professor of nursing, the chair of the graduate nursing department, and the director of the master's in nursing (MS)/doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program.
"Coincidently, in our two schools -- UB nursing and dental medicine -- we were already discussing the increasingly compelling evidence regarding the connection between lifestyle and pathophysiological factors such as oral health, dental disease, and multiple chronic conditions," Campbell-Heider said. "Our discussions ultimately led to the partnership between the two schools that underscore this grant."
