The University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha received a $1.67 million federal grant to place skilled nurses in communities with limited healthcare resources, Fox 42 KPTM reports.
The four-year HHS grant will fund a nurse practitioner residency program at the university specializing in women's health, family practice, pediatrics and psychiatric care, LeAnn Holmes, a nurse practitioner and associate professor at UNMC, told Fox 42 KPTM.
Beginning in fall 2020, the program will place nurse practitioners in Federally Qualified Health Centers, Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and rural clinics across Nebraska, according to Ms. Holmes.
"These are areas that are mostly medically underserved, but also [have] very socially complex patients. This is going to be a nurse practitioner that wants to stay in this population and continue to care for them for years to come," she told Fox 42 KPTM.
Nebraska had 4,062 vacant nursing positions in 2018. This figure is expected to jump to an estimated 5,436 unfilled positions by 2025, according to a report from the Nebraska Center for Nursing.