Akron Children’s hospital and the University of Akron are joining forces to train more future pediatric nurse practitioners to care for the region’s young patients.
The partners have created a dual faculty appointment for UA’s Master of Science in Nursing Child and Adolescent Health Nurse Practitioner Primary Health Care track.
The new appointment aims to grow the program, improve its curriculum, support student clinical placements and create a pipeline for graduating UA students to find full-time employment at Akron Children’s.
“The goal was to create a position that would allow both of us to benefit — us from having someone who is still practicing,” said Timothy Meyers, executive director of UA’s School of Nursing and associate dean of the College of Health and Human Services.
Amanda Wade, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Akron Children’s, took over as program director of UA’s pediatric nurse practitioner program in early February.
Before that, Jenny Michel, also a pediatric nurse practitioner at Akron Children’s and its director of the Office of Advanced Practice, served as the interim director of the program.
“Instead of our curriculum being based on what we perceive to be best practices, having Amanda still functioning in the hospital, everything that gets implemented is going to get implemented right into our curriculum right away,” Meyers said.
As three of the four main faculty of the program are employed at Akron Children’s as advanced practice providers, students will graduate with up-to-date knowledge on policies and procedures in practice.
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“I think both roles just make me a better provider and a better teacher,” said Wade, who earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from UA last May.
Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who hold a graduate nursing degree — either a master’s or a doctorate. They are able to order diagnostic tests, diagnose patients and prescribe medication.
According to a 2023 study, pediatric nurse practitioners serve 43 million children, or 56% of the nation’s child population. The same study found that there is a critical shortage of pediatric nurse practitioners, limiting access to essential health care.
At the time of the study, reasons for the shortage spanned from funding challenges to almost 10% of pediatric nurse practitioner programs being suspended in the past decade. Finding available preceptorships, where an experienced practitioner (the preceptor), mentors a student or newly licensed professional (the preceptee) in a clinical environment was also found to be an obstacle.
Streamlining the path from classroom to patient care
Michel said there are four students graduating from the program this May, 10 slated for graduation in 2027 and another 12 currently taking core classes. The program is typically three years long for students attending fall, spring and some summer semesters.
One of the main stresses as a student in the program is finding a clinical placement. The primary acute care nurse practitioner tracks each require 600 total clinical hours, and the dual appointment guarantees the students will find placements, Meyers said.
“We’re not just getting any preceptors, we’re getting the top preceptors because [Amanda is] working directly with them,” he said. “It takes a lot of stress off the students because a lot of nurse practitioners programs, the students have to go find their own preceptors.”
Students also complete their clinicals close to the university and get their foot in the door to becoming a full-time advanced practice provider at Akron Children’s upon graduation, Michel said.
Sarah Herndon, a student in the program who’s working to become a primary pediatric nurse practitioner, said Michel has helped her with all her clinical placements.
“It’s really nice to have people that work for the university, but also either work for Akron Children’s or have the connections, because I think it just streamlines everything, and it makes it easier,” said Herndon, who also teaches for the nursing program at Kent State.
She has been a nurse for almost 10 years, and she currently works at Akron Children’s Pain Center.
“From an employee standpoint, it’s been nice because you know people already, and I feel like it makes it more comfortable learning, but also you know the environment, you know the culture there already,” she said.
She has been able to send Michel the names of people she is interested in working under as a student, but if a student has no placement ideas, Michel can place them herself.
“It is nice that you don’t have to worry about it,” Herndon said. “She gives you the option of finding it, but if you can’t, then she will.”
How the dual appointment works
Wade has a busy schedule with her new role, going back and forth between UA and Akron Children’s throughout the week.
She works in the emergency department once per week, teaches a class once per week, spends a day in the Advanced Practice Center with Michel and takes the rest of her time to learn the pediatric nurse practitioner program inside and out.
While with Michel, the two work on developing ways to bridge the gap between Akron Children’s and UA’s pediatric nurse practitioner program, whether that is through preceptorships or updating the curriculum.
“In general, my goal is just to make it the best program around,” Wade said. “It’s an area where we can really take a step back and look at what we’ve been doing and figure out why and ask if there’s a better way.”
Supporting local pediatric nurse practitioner education
As the Kent State Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner graduate certificate program has paused admissions, available regional pediatric nurse practitioner education is important.
Meyers said many graduates of the program are now Akron Children’s employees. The school also has a high rate of passage for the board exam that all students take at the end of their program.
Akron Children’s also fully supports 60 UA students pursuing an associate degree in nursing.
“I think our goal is to inspire folks who are in their undergraduate programs to pursue advanced practice degrees in pediatrics,” Michel said.
Herndon said nurse practitioners are important, and she is proud to take the next step in her career.
“There’s so many people that need to be seen and not enough providers,” she said. “If this influences more people to go back to school, I think it just benefits everybody.”
Lauren Cohen is a community reporting intern for the Akron Beacon Journal and Signal Akron. The position is funded through a grant from the Knight Foundation, which is a financial supporter of Signal Akron.
