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The
National Health Service Corps (NHSC)
is a program of the federal Health Resources and Services
Administration's Bureau of Primary Health Care. It was established
to assist in the development, recruitment, and retention of
health care professionals dedicated to service communities
that lack adequate access to primary health care.
The
AACN/NHSC Nurse Practitioner Faculty Advocate Network,
in existence from 1991 to 2003, evolved into the Ambassador
project and includes interdisciplinary faculty, not solely
those with nurse practitioner programs. The purpose of the
Ambassador Project remains the same as the Network, which
is to establish links between the schools of nursing that
have one or more graduate nurse practitioner programs, the
National Health Service Corps and its programs, and community-based
systems of care in underserved areas. Due to the success of
the initial Faculty Advocate Network, the NHSC has continued
to support and fund this project well beyond the original
three-year contract. As before, each school with a graduate
nurse practitioner program selects an Ambassador to serve
as the liaison between the nurse practitioner students, faculty,
and the NHSC and other community-based systems. Click
here for more information about the role of the ambassador.
The
last AACN/NHSC Nurse Practitioner Faculty Advocate/Ambassador
Meeting, held on April 2, 2003 in Philadelphia, was a big
success with 50 ambassadors in attendance. The
main topics at the meeting were the new interdisciplinary
Ambassador Project and educating nurse practitioners for practice
in underserved areas in urban and rural settings. Click
here to view the agenda and photos, and download speaker presentations.
The
goal of the program is to link each NHSC Scholarship recipient
with an Ambassador located at his/her school to assist them
with such things as selecting clinical sites that will prepare
them for working with the underserved and job placement. If
you are interested in serving as an Ambassador please contact
Michelle Corbin, NHSC's Ambassador Program Coordinator at
mcorbin@hrsa.gov or
(301) 594-4162. Information
on the Ambassador Program can be viewed here.
Get information
about the NHSC
Scholarship and NHSC
Loan Repayment Program.
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