Roswell Park Cancer Institute recently welcomed the arrival of an innovative nursing program via a partnership agreement with University at Buffalo. At a ribbon-cutting ceremony on 5 West, RPCI and UB officials launched a novel clinical nursing education program called Dedicated Educational Unit (DEU). The curriculum is a pioneering model for providing clinical nursing education and designed to give nursing students the best clinical experience available.

“The arrival of the DEU program to Roswell Park is another example of our continuous pursuit of innovation,” said Maureen Kelly, RN, MS, vice president of patient care services, Roswell Park Cancer Institute. “By participating with the University at Buffalo, Roswell Park will benefit from being able to retain our most talented nurses and recruit new ones. As a result, our patients will continue to receive the best in nursing care.”

In the DEU program, specially trained hospital-based nurses act as staff clinical instructors, sharing their clinical experience, knowledge and expertise with the student nurses. These instructors are paired with two student nurses, who receive individual attention and instruction in each hospital specialty unit. (A nursing "unit" refers to patients with similar needs who are grouped together.)

The model allows each student to develop a one-on-one relationship with the staff nurse instructor, and provides more opportunities to use the critical thinking at the bedside required to plan and implement the complex nursing care required by today's health-care consumer. The DEU project has produced benefits for both nursing students and the hospitals. Students who have performed well and have formed good professional relationships with their DEU nurses are likely to apply for employment in those hospitals and to be first-in-line for staff openings, according to School of Nursing faculty members who have worked on the DEU programs in operation.

The DEU model also provides DEU staff nurses with opportunities to support ongoing professional commitment to the nursing profession. The DEU model assists health care employers to retain their best nurses and recruit new ones, both of which will address the continued shortage of qualified nurses.