School of Nursing associate clinical professor Clint Shedd DNP, FNP-BC, RN has received a four-year, $2.2 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to fund a nurse practitioner residency program.

The program centers on the special challenges faced by primary care nurse practitioners (PCNPs) when adapting to patients and communities care for in the Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), including caring for patients with complex medical and social needs who present late in the disease process. The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing will partner with MedLink Georgia, an FQHC serving 21 counties in rural Northeast Georgia, to create a 12-month PCNP residency. The goal of the residency is to help meet MedLink’s need for qualified primary care providers, to increase the number of fully-functioning PCNPs available to provide care in rural and underserved areas in Georgia and beyond, and to establish a sustainable model for a nurse practitioner residency that other academic-practice partnerships could emulate.

HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for improving health care to people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable. HRSA programs help those in need of high quality primary health care along with supporting the training of health professionals, the distribution of providers to areas where they are needed most and improvements in health care delivery.

Shedd has been with the School of Nursing since 2011 and has a background in critical care, pulmonary and allergy medicine.  He co-wrote this grant application with Susan Shapiro (emeritus) PhD, RN, FAAN. He has served as the coordinator of the family nurse practitioner program at Emory for seven years.  Other School of Nursing faculty involved include Elizabeth Downes DNP, MPH, FNP-C, CNE, FAANP, ANEF, FAAN, and Carolyn Clevenger DNP, RN, GNP-BC, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP.