The University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Nursing has received a three-year, $1.5 million federal grant that will help students identify and address issues that lead to patients’ health problems. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant is called “Training and Education to Advance Critical Health Equity Readiness Using Simulation,” or TEACH US.
Assistant Professor Christie Manasco, PhD, is the project director for the grant. “This will help future nurses be more proactive in addressing the root causes of patients’ health problems. If we can help improve those conditions that are impacting their health, then they will not have to seek care for the same problem over and over again,” she said. “I want my students to move upstream to where they are addressing the root causes of health problems, so that there will be fewer needs downstream.”
The grant will support simulation exercises that help students role play situations in which the social determinants of health contribute to poor health outcomes. The simulations will use a standardized patient – a person acting the role of a patient. The social determinants of health are conditions that can affect health and quality of life outcomes. These include economic security, health care access and quality, education access and quality, social and community context, and the neighborhood environment.
Read more at our UTHSC News site.