Michael Zychowicz and Angela Richard-Eaglin recently joined colleagues from the Durham VA Health Care System (DVAHCS) Janet Campbell and Bich Nguyen to attend a national nurse practitioner residency meeting in Washington, DC, held by the Office of Academic Affiliations, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

They attended the meeting as representatives of two postgraduate NP training and residency programs that are part of an academic-practice partnership between DUSON and the DVAHCS. With generous support from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Academic Affiliations, these year-long programs provide mentored clinical experiences and professional development activities to prepare adult-gerontology primary care and psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioners for providing quality, compassionate health care to our nation’s Veterans.

Topics covered in the meeting included program accreditation, Veteran-centric curriculum, interprofessional education and Veterans Health Administration recruitment and retention of NP residency trainees.

Zychowicz is director of the DUSON/DVAHCS VA Nursing Academy Partnership in Graduate Education (VANAP-GE), which oversees the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP) Residency Program co-directed by Richard-Eaglin. Campbell is coordinator of the DUSON/DVAHCS VANAP-GE and Nguyen is co-director of the VA Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Residency Program.