Durham VA, DUSON Celebrated Nurse Practitioner Residents' Completion of Residency Program
The Durham VA Health Care System and the Duke University School of Nursing presented the "Nurse Practitioner Residency Quality Improvement Presentations and Residency Completion" event on October 22 in the Pearson Building; a virtual option was available.
DUSON partners with the Durham VA to lead two post-graduate residency programs for mental health and primary care nurse practitioners. The residencies are one-year long. The residents spend about 80% of their time in mentored clinical training with a mentor and 20% of their time on didactic experiences (journal club, lectures, grand rounds, professional development, etc). The residents are responsible for implementing a quality improvement project at the VA.
During the event, the residents presented their quality improvement projects and received certificates to signify their completion of the programs. The residency is sponsored by the VA Office for Academic Affiliations and focused on veteran-centric health care. The two NP residencies located at the Durham VA are part of a larger network of 59 VA sponsored post-graduate NP residencies across the U.S. Our mental health residency was established in 2013, while the primary care residency was established in 2015.
The incoming class of post-graduate nurse practitioner residents was recently welcomed. Dr. Kimberly Bourassa, PMHNP, Matilda Ryan, PMHNP, and Dr. Joseph Towner, PMHNP, have joined the psych-mental health residency, co-led by Drs. Bich Nguyen and Jamison Lord. Emma Michl, FNP, Vanessa Naimoli, FNP, and Dr. Annie Reynolds, FNP, joined the primary care residency, co-led by Drs. Nancy Loyack and Michael Zychowicz.