Page 24 - University of Martland Nursing Forum - Winter 2017

PARTNERSHIPS
l. to r.: Hickman, Sowko, and Mills
Teaching Nurses to Teach
UMSON’s Academic-Hospital Partnerships Address Maryland’s Nurse Shortage
WBy Terri Reuter
hen Holly Sowko,
MS ’15, BSN ’04, RN-BC, was looking to complete her master’s degree, her
goal was to become a nurse manager. For Sowko, who was then serving as a clinical nursing director at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Parole, Maryland, the best fit was the Health Services Leadership and Management (HSLM) master’s specialty at the University of Maryland School
of Nursing, which can be completed entirely online.
Through academic-hospital partnerships funded by the Maryland Higher Education Commission’s Nurse Support Program (NSP) II grant, UMSON has assisted 130 staff nurses
22 WINTER 2017
at partner hospitals during the past decade to continue their education
by earning a Master of Science degree through the HSLM program. The nurses receive focused mentorship to explore an expanded career trajectory, including individualized academic advising and support through graduation.
“Our program is designed to prepare hospital-based nurses as clinical instructors who can supervise or mentor undergraduate and graduate students needing clinical practice experience,” says Mary Etta Mills, ScD, MS ’73,
BSN ’71, RN, FAAN, professor, who co-directs the initiative at UMSON with Linda Hickman, PhD ’98, MBA, RN, FACHE, assistant professor. “By virtue
of having increased clinical access for these experiences, it is anticipated that schools of nursing in Maryland may be able to increase nursing enrollments and graduate more nurses to alleviate the growing nursing shortage.”
This is the goal, as the Maryland Hospital Association has projected a shortage of 10,000 registered nurses this year, and the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation
has forecasted more than 19,000 new openings for registered nurses through 2022.
The NSP II grant began funding UMSON’s unique, strategic academic- service partnerships with 13 acute-care hospitals in 2006. Now, continued NSP
MIKE CIESIELSKI