In time of COVID-19, Cal State LA places nurses in at-risk communities

LOS ANGELES - March 23, 2021 - PRLog -- On her first shift in the field in her new job, Cal State LA nursing graduate Sarah Francisco found herself swept up in the COVID-19 crisis, helping vaccinate patients in South Los Angeles as the virus surged toward a catastrophic peak.

"Having the opportunity to dive in and assist with vaccinating the most vulnerable populations in the community, and seeing their excitement and relief, was very memorable," she recalled of her eventful welcome to Kedren Community Health Center in January.

Francisco is one of eight family nurse practitioners, or FNPs, working across Los Angeles under a new program co-administered by the university's Chin Family Institute for Nursing in the Rongxiang Xu College of Health and Human Services.

The Family Nurse Practitioner Community Care Residency Program has placed the FNP residents at Kedren and three other clinics in underserved communities in East L.A., downtown L.A. and Chinatown. The Chin Family Institute for Nursing is partnering with the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County on the program, which launched on Jan. 11.

The program is part of a growing effort in California and across the nation to provide FNPs with field experience they need to work independently of physicians. The hope is to develop a pipeline of such practitioners to deliver primary care in urban and rural communities that do not have enough health care providers.

Lorie H. Judson, executive director for the Chin Family Institute for Nursing, said the program will enable the residents to put the finishing touches on their training as community-focused FNPs.

"The goal is to help the residents utilize their new skills, hone what they already know, and learn to apply their training quickly and accurately in the clinic setting," she said. "They've all had clinical experience as students. We will be adapting the program to their needs and the focus of the clinics."

The partnership, Judson said, aligns with the founding principles of the Chin Family Institute for Nursing and its benefactors, Drs. Patricia A. and William Chin. The institute, established in 2016, defines its mission as providing postgraduate nursing education, advocacy, leadership and action, emphasizing care for diverse, underserved urban populations.

With the passage last year of Assembly Bill 890 in California, Judson explained, FNPs will not require the supervision of a physician once they complete 4,600 hours of transition to practice. The word "family" in the FNP designation refers to their mission to provide primary care to patients across their life spans, from infancy onward. FNPs are educated to diagnose and treat not just the physical aspects of patients' care, but their mental and psychosocial needs as well.

Read more: https://www.calstatela.edu/univ/ppa/publicat/time-covid-1....