How to fund technology in your health education program

The primary goal of using technology health education programs is to facilitate knowledge acquisition, improve skills, enhance decision-making, and focus on perceptual variations that lead to improved skill coordination, critical events practicing, and team training, and enhanced psychomotor skills.

Different technologies, such as electronic health records, physical simulation models, manikins, virtual reality, and augmented reality, can address these goals. The task of health institutions is to use advanced technologies effectively, leading to effective, collaborative, and personalized learning.

Are there any organizations that offer grants, funds, and awards?

Simulations have been used in health, medical, dental, surgical, and nursing education for over five decades. At the same time, e-learning has played a crucial role in medical education for the last twenty years. There are numerous funding sources for technology in health education programs. Let us now discuss some funding sources. Read on!

HEERF III

HEERF stands for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) has authorized this funding program, providing $39.7 billion to support higher education institutions, including medical and nursing colleges.

The purpose is to ensure students continue learning and streamline their skills development in medical education during the pandemic. The HEERF III provides funding for distance education, teleconferencing tools, and VR simulation equipment.

AHRQ

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) offers funding opportunities for technology tools and applications that health institutions can use to conduct research on health IT practices. The purpose is to design, implement, and use advanced technologies, such as simulations and manikins to streamline learning.

The funding program is designed for healthcare institutions and organizations like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Coordinator for Health IT, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Medical colleges can apply for the grant and, once approved, can install and use the desired technology tools, such as VR simulations, in their institutions.

INACSL

INACSL is a reputable organization that offers grants to nursing institutions. One such grant is the “Debra Spunt Research Grant” that nursing colleges can apply to fund their simulation technologies, including virtual reality (VR) simulations.

INACSL requires nursing colleges and medical institutions to become members of the organization to apply for the grant. Otherwise, they won’t receive funding for simulation-based technologies.

NLN

NLN is another organization that offers grants for research-based and technology-based health education to nursing institutions. It is crucial to meet NLN’s criteria and requirements to receive funds for technology tools implementation in the nursing program.

After analyzing nursing education programs and narrow down the list of applicants, colleges, or research proposals, NLN provides grants and funding to five health programs. So, it is wise to meet the organization’s requirements to increase your chances of getting funds from NLN.  

SSH

Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) was established in 2004 by a group of medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, researchers, and educators from different parts of the world, including Europe.

The primary goal of this organization is to strengthen institutions, hospitals, and researchers to use simulation-based technologies, including virtual reality, human-patient simulators, task trainers, and standardized patients.

The organization provides funding and grants for simulation-based modalities to health education and research programs in North America and Europe. SSH’s Community of Science (COS) lists over 400,000 funding opportunities for research programs. The organization has awarded over $33 billion in grants through the COS program.

SESAM

The Society in Europe for Simulation (SESAM) is one of the most popular organizations that support simulation-based learning in health education programs across Europe. The goal of SESAM is to provide financial support to research organizations, educational institutions, and medical training centers for using simulation in healthcare. The organization is also affiliated with INACSL to support simulation-based education in North America.

HEA

The Higher Education Commission (HEA) has granted funds to numerous healthcare organizations in the UK. For instance, HEA has funded the National Simulation Development Project (NSDP) in the UK. Besides, HEA also collaborates with HEE (Health Education England) to provide funds and resources to educational institutions and medical research organizations.

Final Words

Funding for technology in health education programs is a daunting and time-consuming task. It is challenging to find funding programs or sources that support simulation-based technology and learning to receive grants for your health or nursing programs. The good news is that numerous organizations provide funds to health institutions in the U.S, UK, and EU, and some of them are given above.