Blanca “Iris” Padilla, PhD, FNP-BC, assistant professor for Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) and project director of the Communities of Practice grant, and Kathryn Kreider, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, assistant professor and lead faculty of the endocrinology specialty in the master of science in nursing (MSN) program for DUSON, received a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant of nearly $1.2 million for their Advanced Nursing Education Grant titled “Communities of Practice (CoP).” The grant will be funded for three years, which began July 1, 2016, and will end June 30, 2019.

Padilla, a primary care clinician for more than 14 years, is passionate about providing primary care services to the underserved populations and patients living with chronic conditions such as diabetes and depression. She has also educated future nursing leaders, including being a clinical preceptor and mentor for more than 14 years.

“My passion in caring for the underserved population fuels my desire to learn where the gaps are in our communities,” said Padilla. “This grant will allow us to bridge these gaps.”

The innovative project will focus on building a new academic-practice partnership between DUSON and primary care sites in rural and underserved settings. Using an innovative model as a framework, CoP will be a vehicle for peer-to-peer learning and potentially build relationships. Members will be new and established preceptors who will have the opportunity to expand the clinical training of nurse practitioner students in primary care, community and rural settings.

“Through the CoP we will be able to provide an interactive website that offers learning modules to improve preceptor knowledge and skills on primary care and chronic conditions as they relate to diabetes and endocrinology disorders and other chronic conditions, preceptor engagement and development and cultural competencies,” Padilla said.

The second part of the grant helps to prepare graduates of the MSN program for work in complex practice environments providing culturally sensitive, safe, effective, evidence-based, interprofessional and patient-centered care to patients with multiple chronic conditions such as diabetes and endocrinology disorders.

“The grant has been instrumental in allowing us to launch the first adult endocrinology specialty for nurse practitioners in the United States,” said Kreider. “Our MSN students who are enrolled in the adult-gerontology primary care, women’s health and family nurse practitioner majors now have the opportunity to have advanced training in the care of these individuals.”

Padilla will be leading the team-based approach to caring for patients as well as mentoring and training new clinicians and students. The first site will be in Durham at a local community health center and focus on diabetes care and best practices. According to Padilla, they will track outcomes that affect the overall care of patients, such as no show rates, medication adherence and diabetes biomarkers.

“In a 2014 study conducted by the Endocrine Society, we learned that the gap between supply and demand for endocrinology specialists continues to grow as more people are diagnosed,” Padilla said. “This grant helps to fund a project that will allow us to support current care teams in primary care settings who are providing care in addition to filling the void and educating our next generation of experts.”