Grant Funds New Addiction Treatment Learning for Nursing Students
| A new grant from the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) will help the UAMS College of Nursing as it educates nurse practitioner students in treating addiction.
The $5,000 grant includes access to new online learning modules on identifying addiction, the brain chemistry behind it, patient treatment options, and ethical considerations when caring for patients with addiction. These modules will be integrated into the existing curriculum.
“Our existing curriculum includes content on addiction and mental health, but these modules will provide additional, standardized information for our students” said Patrician Cowan, Ph.D., RN, dean of the UAMS College of Nursing and principle investigator for the grant. “These modules have about eight hours of content and a post-test.”
The grant is part of a wider collaboration between ASAM and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to more broadly prepare nurses in addiction issues in light of the ongoing national opioid epidemic. The effort extends to 10 schools of nursing nationwide, of which UAMS is one.
The coursework will be implemented in the spring and summer courses this year. The modules will also be used in future years. The materials include the opportunity for students to provide feedback on the applicability of what they’ve learned.