East Carolina University and ECU Health are launching a new graduate-level certificate program aimed at getting more nurse practitioners in acute care settings for adults and the aging population.
It’s called the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. ECU Health donated a grant to the university for $1.5 million to fund it over a five-year period. University officials said the acute care program is the first of its kind in Eastern North Carolina.
Acute care happens when an adult or elderly person needs short-term care in a hospital or nursing home due to an illness like pneumonia, which can cause more complications.
“It could also be that person that has a chronic condition and gets COVID-19, or some other type of illness that they need to come in for respiratory intervention or some other intervention as a result of that,” said Pam Rudisill, ECU Health’s Vice President for Nursing.
Rudisill added that the program is meant to help expand the acute care workforce.
There are only about 6.1% of nurse practitioners that go into the acute care gerontology field, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
East Carolina University’s acute care certificate requires that students must already be recognized as an advanced practice nurse. Julie Linder, a clinical associate professor at ECU’s College of Nursing, said during the program, students will participate in a clinical site rotation for three of the semesters, where they will actually go into hospitals.
“They’re learning hands-on skills with patients under the preceptorship of someone who’s already in acute care,” said Linder.
East Carolina University is still accepting applications for the program until Dec. 15. The online program starts next year in January.
