WCU School of Nursing awarded grant to jumpstart workshop series
WCU nursing students
By Cam Adams
Western Carolina University School of Nursing director and associate professor Terrica Durbin understands the need for nurses — and so do local patrons. The WCU School of Nursing was awarded a $40,562 grant by the Mountain Area Health Education Center in Asheville.
Durbin and co-principal investigator Lisa Lefler, an associate professor in the College of Health and Human Sciences, will use the grant to fund the Comprehensive Student Success Workshop Series.
“Of course it’s exciting,” Durbin said. “What it says is that funders in the area understand the barriers that nurses face and are willing to address them, so that’s very important I think, and it’s heartwarming, especially right now.
“We’re in a really chronic nursing shortage, and so the more nurses we can help to start and then continue their careers, the better off we all are because everybody’s going to need a nurse someday.”
The workshop series intends to target post-licensure nursing students, many of whom are online learners in Appalachia, with hopes of improving retention and success rates of students from underrepresented backgrounds.
It aims to address the geographical and cultural isolation, socio-economic barriers and cultural differences of students in Appalachia, and it looks to equip students with essential skills such as study techniques, time management and critical reading.
Durbin hopes to bring those online students, if they’re able, into the Health and Human Sciences Building for small group discussions and mini-workshops.
“We know that in-person component can be very valuable in terms of helping classes bond, helping students feel like they belong,” Durbin said. “If we can help students feel connected to campus, I feel like they’re more likely to stay and more likely to be successful.”
Durbin is aiming for the workshop series to start in the spring, piloting it with WCU’s RN to BSN students.
“The step from a community college to a university setting can be a little daunting, and these folks, our program’s online, so they’re primarily at a distance, so they can’t come into the office regularly,” she said.
“We figure if we can address some of the barriers to success, we can then expand that out and then address barriers to success for all kinds of students at all levels because the barriers are going to be similar, I think.”
