UB Nurse Receives Federal Grant For Rural Nurse Education

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Mary Finnick, gnsh, clinical assistant professor of nursing at the University at Buffalo, has been awarded a $398,407 training grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish a comprehensive continuing education program for rural Western New York nurses.

Finnick also has received the 1993 New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) Nursing Education Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to basic, graduate and continuing nursing education.

The education program to be created through the HHS grant to Finnick and co-principal investigators Frances Crosby and Marlene Ventura, UB clinical professor of nursing, is designed to increase the competencies regarding quality assessment and improvement of rural Western New York nurses who are practicing in acute, long-term and women's health care.

There are three component parts to the program, Finnick says: A one-day program, to be held 14 times over the three-year span of the grant, to introduce staff nurses to quality in nursing; a five-day program, to be held eight times, that will focus on nurse management and quality assessment improvement, and an all-day general conference, to be held yearly, in which a nationally known nurse will be invited to speak.

The program will improve the UB School of Nursing's reputation as a quality assessment information system and, in turn, improve the quality of nursing, Finnick says. In addition to a newsletter that will be issued monthly, UB will be promoted as a resource where area health-care centers can get information about how health care has improved.

A UB faculty member since 1986, Finnick also has taught nursing at D'Youville College and Temple University.

A resident of the West Side of Buffalo, she earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from D'Youville, a master's degree in nursing service administration from Catholic University and a doctorate in educational administration from Temple.

Finnick has received the District #1, NYSA Outstanding Nurse Award and the Community Service Award from the Chapel of Four Chaplain in Philadelphia.