UNE receives $2 million from Glickman Lauder Foundation to support mental health care and ease workforce shortages
As mental health programs continue to shutter across Maine, the University of New England is taking strides to address a mental health crisis.
With generous financial support from the Judy Glickman Lauder Foundation, UNE plans to launch an innovative psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) program to bolster the state’s behavioral health workforce. The $2 million gift will also allow UNE to simultaneously increase the emphasis of psychiatric concepts and skills for students in its current undergraduate 护理课程提供.
UNE是 top provider of health professionals for the state，以及大学的 护理与人口健康学院 graduates the largest number of pre-licensure (registered nurse, or RN) students in Maine. By exposing students to psychiatric concepts at the undergraduate level, UNE hopes to increase interest in the field to tackle pervasive mental health challenges such as substance abuse and access to behavioral health care.
“Maine’s health care worker shortage deeply affects those who struggle with their mental health. By educating more mental health professionals to meet rising demand, UNE will help ease workforce shortages and get people the care they need,全球网络赌博平台校长詹姆斯·赫伯特说, 临床心理学家. “As Maine’s largest provider of health professionals, UNE has a specific responsibility to address pervasive health issues in our own backyard. 这个新程序将做到这一点.”
Maine’s population is the oldest — and most rapidly aging — in the nation and is experiencing a boom in immigrant and refugee communities. 通过一个独特的, 综合教学方法, the program aims to prepare graduates to tackle the mental health challenges presented by these changing demographics.
UNE plans to enroll 15 students in the program per year to supplement the state’s limited number of PMHNPs. 另外, the program will increase the number of new registered nurses entering Maine’s workforce who have received targeted training in mental health.
“The mental health crisis in our country far surpasses our capacity to provide meaningful care for those in need,慈善家朱迪·格利克曼·劳德说. “Meeting these needs begins with investing in well-trained and compassionate healthcare professionals. We are pleased to support the University of New England’s commitment to bring more mental health professionals into the field. Our family hopes others will join us in this crucial mission.”
新项目, 以格利克曼·兰黛的名字命名, 将利用UNE的现有资源, 包括其 Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center, which houses standardized patient laboratories as well as patient simulators and a nationally acclaimed virtual reality (VR) nursing simulation. In that program, learners use headsets to engage in immersive, realistic clinical experiences. The PMHNP program will expand the VR simulation to include psychiatric and mental health clinical scenarios.
New initiatives that will also benefit students include the creation of an innovative learning laboratory focused on the social determinants of health as they relate to mental health, as well as the creation of a robust network of statewide health care partners to support high quality inpatient and outpatient psychiatric clinical experiences.
这样的规划将利用 UNE’s hallmark interprofessional education (IPE) approach to health professions instruction, which encourages students from all 健康的学科 to engage in collaboration and teamwork in delivering patient care. Interprofessional collaboration has routinely been shown to improve clinical outcomes, 减少医疗事故, 提高患者满意度, 减少医务人员的职业倦怠. UNE was an early adopter of IPE and is a national leader in the field.
凯伦·帕杜博士.D., RN, UNE associate provost for Strategic Initiatives, remarked that the PMHNP program is “a vital addition to UNE’s strong cadre of health professions programs, serving to augment Maine’s provider workforce and caring for those impacted by mental and behavioral health conditions.”