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Learning Objective 1: discuss a innovative model for state-wide, collaborative education that can easily be replicated in other rural areas across the nation.
Learning Objective 2: identify strategies for conserving scarce resources and avoiding duplication of services with maximum benefit for the health of the populations served.
Collaborative doctoral programs permit schools of nursing to optimize resources and share core courses, while maintaining different foci according to each school’s distinctiveness. In 2009, a statewide consortium, Mississippi Educational Consortium for the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (MECDNP), involving all five state university nursing programs, was established. The MECDNP Program Management Council is responsible for daily operations and making recommendations to the Consortium Governance Council, composed of the deans of all five schools. Each parent institution is responsible for program delivery and providing equal commitments to faculty workload, program delivery, academic advising, and student services. Annual meetings for DNP faculty and students across the state provide opportunities for networking, scholarship, and review of curricula and other program issues. The milestones accomplished by MECDNP in 2012 include 1) statewide cultural competence training for faculty and practice mentors, 2) the first annual DNP Leadership Institute focusing on mentoring DNP students in informatics for practice projects, 3) a pilot project toolkit development for sharing expertise and course content in Population Health, and 4) initiation of an early entry DNP curriculum for postmasters DNP students. The model for this state-wide, collaborative education is one that can easily be replicated in other rural areas across the nation. It would be applicable to any programs needing to conserve scarce resources and avoid duplication of services with maximum benefit for the health of the populations served. (supported by HRSA grant D09HP22638)