The grant will dispense integrated primary and behavioral health care to Newark, New Jersey's underserved communities through three nurse-led mobile health units.
A $3.6 million, four-year grant to Seton Hall University’s College of Nursing will allow graduate nursing students to participate in a semester-long clinical experience on mobile healthcare units in Newark, New Jersey, providing healthcare to medically underserved people.
For the first year of the grant, which was awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), 19 nurse practitioner students from the nursing school’s adult-gerontology primary care, pediatric primary care, and the new psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner programs will engage in this clinical experience, completing a range of 120-160 hours of precepted clinical training in the mobile healthcare units.
Upon completion of their practicum experience on the mobile healthcare units, nursing students are eligible to receive a $10,000 stipend to offset costs of tuition, books, travel, and other expenses. By the grant’s conclusion in 2026, the college projects that 133 students will be afforded this unique opportunity.
“This is a very exciting opportunity for the College of Nursing and certainly a wonderful collaboration with the City of Newark, a medically underserved area,” said Marie Foley, PhD, RN, CNL, dean of the College of Nursing. “This represents the epitome of how we educate our students—learning by doing—and supports the Seton Hall mission of servant leadership.”
The goals of this project are to:
- Expand the Newark Department of Health and Community Wellness capacity to provide integrated primary and behavioral health care to underserved communities through three nurse-led mobile health units.
- Provide experiential mobile health clinical training and expand training opportunities on the use of innovative technology solutions that increase access to healthcare services to medically underserved populations.
- Strengthen nursing faculty’s capabilities to deliver relevant social determinants of health and health equity content to students.
- Increase the diversity of the nursing workforce by recruiting and supporting nurse practitioner students from diverse populations, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities.
“We are excited to embark on this partnership with the Newark Department of Health and Community Wellness,” said principal investigator for the grant Joyce L. Maglione, Ph.D., ANP-BC, associate professor and program director of the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program. “Not only will our students learn, support, and grow their nurse practitioner skills, but also have the opportunity to contribute to a healthy environment for the residents of Newark.”
The project is anticipated to create a pipeline of nurse practitioners for the City of Newark and serve as the foundation for a long-term collaboration between the College of Nursing and the Department of Health and Community Wellness.
“Not only will our students learn, support, and grow their nurse practitioner skills, but also have the opportunity to contribute to a healthy environment for the residents of Newark.”
— Joyce L. Maglione, Ph.D., ANP-BC, associate professor, Seton Hall University College of Nursing
Carol Davis is the Nursing Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.
Photo credit: Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock.com
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The grant allows graduate nursing students to get clinical experience on mobile healthcare units in Newark, New Jersey.
Upon completion of their clinicals on the mobile healthcare units, nursing students are eligible to receive a $10,000 stipend.
The project is anticipated to create a pipeline of nurse practitioners for the City of Newark.