Grant Will Help Samford Nurse Anesthetists and Their Patients

Samford University’s Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing has received a grant that will ensure continued traineeship support for students in its department of nurse anesthesia. This also may mean better health care for patients in many medically underserved areas, where more than half of recent Samford nurse anesthetists work.

The Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship (NAT) Program grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will provide $22,536 to be dispersed over the next 12 months.

Traineeships help defray the cost of tuition, books and living expenses for registered nurses who are enrolled as full-time students in the graduate-level nurse anesthesia program.

“Our demanding curriculum prohibits students from being employed, so the traineeship program is invaluable in helping relieve some financial burden,” said Samford nurse anesthesia department chair Dr. Terri M. Cahoon.

This marks at least the eighth consecutive year that the Samford nurse anesthesia program has received the Title VIII grant from HRSA. In that time, students have benefitted from almost $153,350 in NAT funding.