Paper
Friday, 21 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Nursing Education: Empowering Students
A Graduate Hybrid Distance Education Program for Neonatal and Pediatric Nursing Specialties
Jacqueline McGrath, PhD, RN, NNP, School of Nursing, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA and Denise Giannascoli Link, DNSc, NPC, College of Nursing, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Learning Objective #1: Design a hybrid online program that begins to meet the needs of students who are at a distance.
Learning Objective #2: Recommend the main aspects that are needed in a hybrid online curriculum to support student success.
Our state is state with many healthcare needs including health professional shortages, high rates of teen pregnancies, high rate of LBW infants, a growing population of children in poverty and many multi-cultural issues. Thus, the need for competent health care providers is an issue that cannot be ignored. These two integrated programs are the first online and distance education programs for NNP/ PNPs in AZ. The need for these services in AZ has been steadily increasing. Thus, the purpose of these programs, is to enhance the graduate nursing of children specialties curriculum at ASU by adding an integrated online and distance learning format to the existing programs. Increasing the number APNs providing services to children in rural and medically underserved Arizona is also an objective. We have developed two integrated programs that are innovative and scholarly rigorous with 54 credit, 720 clinical hour programs for NNP/PNPs in a hybrid distance learning format. We have combined traditional and online formats to meet learner centered objectives providing students with the “Best of  Both Worlds.” Graduates are eligible for National Certification and possess the theoretical and complex clinical skills essential to providing developmentally focused and family-centered care to culturally diverse and medically underserved populations. Graduates are also prepared to contribute to the goal of reducing health disparities among Americans. These integrated programs are available for full or part-time study and utilize a variety of clinical sites in underserved areas. In addition, the Neonatal program is participating in a Consortium with three other Universities to expose students to experts and best practices standards. All evaluation data, will be shared with stakeholders and refinement of the programs will be ongoing. Ultimately, the goal of these two integrated programs are to provide well trained, exemplary, Neonatal and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner graduates who will meet AZ’s needs.

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