Rural Nurse Initiative
Responding to a documented health work force need
The Rural Nurse Initiative (RNI) program will create opportunities through scholarship funding to educate BSN-prepared nurses within rural communities to become DNP prepared Family Nurse Practitioners (DNP-FNPs) and keep them in these high-needs Oregon areas for their clinical experiences. Local health care organizations will partner with the SONHI to provide clinical experiences for the local DNP-FNP students enrolled in the RNI program. The DNP-FNP program will have fewer in-person meetings, thus allowing nurses to stay in their communities while pursuing an advanced degree.
The SONHI will commit to:
- Collaborating with health care systems in rural communities to recruit their BSN prepared nurses to pursue their DNP degree at UP. This may include UP reserving a set number of spaces in each DNP-FNP cohort in exchange for a commitment to provide clinical sites.
- Increasing the number of highly trained, licensed nurse practitioners (NP) providing critical and routine care in rural and underserved counties historically challenged by workforce maldistribution and sustained nursing shortages.
- Improving nursing care delivery in rural regions by increasing the number of BSN-prepared RNs placed into the health care workforce. Improving access to primary health care, and decreasing health disparities.
Learn more about our DNP program
