Emory University’s School of Nursing has been awarded a grant to enhance curricular components of NRSG 392 - Clinical Practicum: Maternity & Reproductive Health. The grant, totaling $499,999 is designed to benefit Georgia’s rural population. The program will provide standardized patient, simulation equipment, and additional specialized training to ensure expertise in caring for childbearing women.

“The funds from the grant provide an unprecedented opportunity for our students to have real-world learning experiences about the issues of maternal morbidity and mortality in rural south Georgia,” said Beth Ann Swan, PhD, RN, FAAN. “The program also provides an amazing opportunity to enhance the School of Nursing’s well-respected partnership with the Moultrie community.”

The courses will prepare Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students to care for pregnant women by engaging with Colquitt Regional Medical Center, a 99-bed medical center; and three organizations serving residents of southwest Georgia: The Farm Worker Family Health Program based in Ellenton, GA; Southwest Georgia AHEC; and GA Department of Public Health.

Work on the project is underway. The plan will include the design and delivery of original, evidence-based experiential learning experiences for 135 BSN students. It will also launch three academic-community partnerships that will inform simulation scenarios – while providing longitudinal community health-based clinical experiences within a team-based public health framework in a rural community for 24 BSN students. By design, this rural maternal health program will integrate public health nursing competencies and professional development for practicing community, maternal, and public health nurses.