Sage earns funding to advance nursing careers

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has announced that Russell Sage College is among 10 schools selected to participate in a national initiative designed to transform nursing education and practice.

As part of this initiative, Sage will receive $100,000 and technical assistance to design and implement new curricula in two of the 10 areas of professional nursing competency identified in The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education.

The Essentials is a new model for nursing education endorsed by AACN member schools. With funding from the American Nurses Foundation’s Reimagining Nursing Initiative and best practices from the 10 participating nursing programs, AACN will develop an adaptable framework for competency-based education that can be applied across diverse academic nursing programs and health care settings.

Associate Professor of Nursing Victoria Greenwood, DNS, will lead Sage’s involvement in the initiative.

“This grant is evidence of how Sage continues to innovate to address critical health care needs and stay on the cutting edge of nursing education,” said Russell Sage College President Christopher Ames, Ph.D. “It is an incredible opportunity to share our specific expertise in curriculum development and instruction for delivering first-rate care, on a national level.”

“For a century, the nursing department at Russell Sage College has supported a strong profession by raising the educational ceiling for nurses and encouraging them to assume greater leadership roles and truly expand their expertise,” said Dean of Russell Sage College’s School of Health Sciences.Kathleen Kelly, Ph.D., MPH, MS, FNP.  “We are excited to partner with AACN and other leaders in academia, public health and health care to prepare even more practice-ready nurses.”

The AACN review committee used a blind review process and an established rubric to assess the strength of the nursing programs that applied to participate in this initiative; special consideration was given to schools that identified equity as a core guiding principle and to schools serving underrepresented and rural populations.