North Carolina Future of Nursing Action Coalition (NC FON AC) and UNC’s Tar Heel Academic Practice Partnership (TAPP) together are one of 12 recipients nationwide to be awarded a $25,000 grant from the AARP Health Equity and Nursing Innovation Fund to create a simulation training program that can better address violence in healthcare settings. The grant, coupled with $25,000 in matching funds from UNC Health’s Robert A. Ingram Institute for Equitable Healthcare Access, will allow NC FON AC and TAPP to bring together nurse educators, chief nursing officers, clinical content experts, simulation experts and more to develop essential simulation training for nurses at UNC Hospitals and UNC Health Rex, and the UNC School of Nursing’s students.

The project, “Promoting Healthy Work Environments and Confronting Workplace Violence Through Simulation Training,” will aim to decrease workplace violence across the UNC system and equip nurses with the skills needed to address it, including effective de-escalation tools, accurate reporting strategies and post-situation support. The filmed simulation scenarios will be disseminated as educational resources.

“We are immensely grateful to the AARP Health Equity and Nursing Innovation Fund for their support and the Ingram Institute for their generous matching funds,” said Dr. Valerie Howard, dean of the UNC School of Nursing and NC FON AC Co-Chair. “This combined funding enables us to expand our efforts in creating safer work environments for nurses.”

NC FON AC is a driving force transforming health and healthcare through nursing in the state. It is North Carolina’s arm of The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  

UNC’s TAPP is a new partnership between UNC Hospitals, UNC Health Rex, and the UNC School of Nursing, and it was established to support a partnership between academia and the practice setting to ensure nurses are prepared for nursing practice.

“We are excited to collaborate on this program,” said President Emerita NC AARP, and NC FON AC Co-Chair Catherine Sevier, DrPH, RN.  “Assisting nurses to be more capable and effective in their work environment is an important mission of the nursing school and the NC FON AC. This grant will fund a much-needed tool for that work.”