October 8, 1999 - The Wayne State University College of Nursing has received a $646,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop and institute a School Nurse Practitioner track in the graduate program.

"This grant allows us to design an educational program that will provide nurse practitioners with skills to serve the K-12 school environment," said Dean Barbara K. Redman.

"This is really a wonderful opportunity for the college, the city and the state," said Chandice Covington, Ph.D., R.N., C.P.N.P. who serves as the program director. "This is so important to the advancement of the health of our nation's children - our future."

The three-year grant allows for a full-year of planning during the 1999-2000 academic year with the program being offered to students beginning in Fall 2000.

"Health care is increasingly being provided by nurse practitioners at the school site and we are responding to that trend," said Hertha Gast, Ph.D., R.N., the project coordinator.

Across Michigan and particularly in the Detroit area, numerous schools have established full-service clinics, which provide primary health care for students. Among these clinics is the Teen Health Center at the University Public School, a middle school chartered by Wayne State University. This model center, started by the College of Nursing and staffed by Ann Marszalek, M.S., R.N., C.N.P.N., will serve as a training site for school nurse practitioner students.

Marszalek, herself a pediatric nurse practitioner, believes school nurse practitioners provide a vital service to the school community.
"If you are located within a school, the children are able to receive many different health services," Marszalek said. "The clinic can be a caring, confidential place for the students to bring all kinds of health issues."

While school nurses traditionally and historically have served the school community, the school nurse practitioner can also assess, diagnose and treat the school-age child in collaboration with a physician.

"The School Nurse Practitioner Program will target preparing professionals who can provide primary care and integrate themselves in the life of the school and the community," Gast said.

The development of the SNP track fits within the goals and objectives of the university's Full Service School Consortium, which is a cross-disciplinary group at WSU including representatives from the colleges of Education, Social Work, Urban and Labor Affairs, Nursing, Psychology and Medicine.