Building partnerships to enhance healthcare for Veterans
The South Texas Veterans Health Care System Nursing Education Department, in partnership with the University of Texas Health San Antonio School of Nursing, have been chosen as the 2024 recipients for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Exemplary Academic-Practice Partnership Award.
Beginning with a partnership in 2003, South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) and the University of Texas Health San Antonio School of Nursing (UTHSA-SON) have cultivated a strong partnership to best serve South Texas Veterans. And by doing so, STVHCS is only one of three education departments throughout VA to be honored with this award and the first for the Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN) 17.
Dr. Celida Martinez-Vargas, Chief Nurse for Nursing Education at STVHCS emphasized that this prestigious honor is only bestowed to institutions involved in highly innovative and sustained relations that extend beyond clinical placements while demonstrating a commitment to the guiding principles for academia.
“One of the cornerstones of our partnership is in the effort of sustaining the nursing workforce,” she said. “Our goal is to support and teach the next generation of nurses. These nurses will provide high quality patient specific care to America’s Veterans at an advanced level. For us, it’s the matter of sustaining the partnership, supporting new graduate nurse their first years to ensure they are ready to begin their amazing life journey at STVHCS.”
This dedicated effort to elevate nursing education has been a work in progress since 2003, with programs implemented that not only allow UTHSA-SON nursing students to learn from dedicated VA clinicians, but to also experience firsthand the unprecedented efforts of the VA workforce.
And with the implementation of Dedicated Education Units (DEU), STVHCS has four medical-surgical units at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital that actively serve Veterans and elevate nursing education all at the same time. In addition, two of the four medical surgical units are Prism Award Recipients. By accepting 24 nursing students every semester, the Nursing Education Department is able to provide a unique experience that has many nursing students eager to stay onboard.
“The DEU units and lead teachers provide an amazing experience to the nursing students. So much so that they are eager to return every semester,” she said. “This first experience has a tremendous impact on the trajectory of their future nursing careers. Over 25 percent return upon graduation to become a permeant member of our VA family.”
Once nursing students complete their clinical in a DEU, they are then eligible to apply for additional nursing programs such as the VA-Student Trainee Experience (VA-STEP) Program and the Registered Nurse Transition-to-Practice (RNTTP) Residency Program. Through acceptance into these programs, nursing students are able to see firsthand how a dedicated workforce with the same mission in mind can create a worthwhile career.
“Our success rate of students who go from the beginning from DEU to the VA STEP program to RNTTP has been 100 percent within the first year,” Dr. Martinez-Vargas said. “In two years, the retention rate is 98 percent, which is higher than the national average of 87 percent.”
The success of this partnership goes hand-in-hand with the efforts led by Dr. Wesley Richardson, a Nurse Educator at STVHCS and Assistant Professor at UTHSA-SON. Beginning with VA in 2008, Dr. Richardson entered this unique dual role in 2009, serving as the lead in frontline efforts by working directly with nursing students and creating practice-ready nurses.
With this dual role, UT Health has opened its doors to Dr. Richardson, with rights and privileges of fulltime faculty members. And by being one of the first STVHCS representatives nursing students come across as they begin their journey as UTHSA-SON students entering VA to learn, many are eager to continue their education through VA.
“When we take students to South Texas VA, at outpatient clinics, as well in the hospital, we help maintain that pipeline for new graduate nurses,” he said. “We support the mission of the school with teaching and we support the mission of the VA by ensuring that when we bring students to South Texas that they are giving the best care to our Veteran population possible.”
With one of the partnership’s cornerstone of sustaining the nursing workforce, Dr. Richardson sees the value in supporting both missions and cultivating that interest in not only elevating his students’ desire for learning from the best, but also joining them once graduating.
“I get to tell them about this wonderful place that has organized structure, solid policies and procedures that has standardization in terms of the care that’s being provided and delivers really good outcomes,” he said.
As a fellow VA employee, Dr. Martinez-Vargas has embraced the value in being a part of the VA community, working with great colleagues that serve the same mission in taking care of this nation’s Veterans. With this conviction, Dr. Martinez-Vargas pushes forward to maintain this special harmony, not only for the nursing workforce, but for South Texas Veterans.
“We focus on bringing in high-quality nurses to take care of our Veterans because they deserve the best,” she said. “This isn’t done with just the Nursing Education Department and the partnership that we have; this is so much more. Without the lead teachers, without the frontline nurses willing to teach and taking the time to mentor and teach students, and without the managers and leadership supporting this, none of this would have been possible.”
And just like Dr. Richardson, Dr. Martinez-Vargas understands that through their unwavering dedication and shared vision, STVHCS and UTHSA-SON have forged a partnership that not only strengthens the nursing profession but also transforms lives and advances healthcare for generations to come.
To learn more about nursing careers at STVHCS, visit https://www.va.gov/south-texas-health-care/work-with-us/.