Institutional collaboration not competition: preparing family nurse practitioners to serve rural areas

In response to the need for an increased number of family nurse practitioners in rural Texas, The University of Texas at Tyler, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and Midwestern State University entered into a collaborative arrangement to provide advanced education to nurses in outlying areas of the state. The catchment area for the project encompassed 72 counties, representing half the land mass in Texas. This article presents the development of the collaborative model, strategies used for implementation, and evaluation of this collaborative effort. The collaborative family nurse practitioner program is based on collegiality rather than competition to better meet the needs of students and communities in a cost-effective manner. Communication between the institutions and faculty has been a key factor in the success of the program. The addition of nurse practitioners from this project has the potential to greatly increase access to health care in large, underserved populations.