Sacred Heart University and Nuvance Health have entered into a partnership to help provide clinical experience to students studying nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral health and other healthcare majors through the use of Nuvance Health facilities.
According to a SHU press release, the agreement between the university and Nuvance Health has four categories of collaboration: clinical placements, education and training, philanthropy and scholarships, and career services.
Collaboration between Nuvance Health and SHU allows information to be shared fluidly with the goal of resolving healthcare issues.
provide clinical experience for students.
Source: Tracy Deer-Mirek, Sacred Heart University
“Both of the organizations have issues that are challenges for us. We both come at these issues with slightly different perspectives, and by sharing our knowledge and our experiences, we might be able to resolve some of the problems in healthcare that can be challenging for both of us,” said Dr. Cynthia O’Sullivan, the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Global Nursing at SHU.
O’Sullivan emphasized the importance of educating students and preparing them for the real world.
“If there is a problem going on at the hospital, and we are not aware of it, we want to know so we can be educating our students about it. If we are sharing with each other, we can both be doing the right thing,” O’Sullivan said.
The preferred partnership means that Nuvance Health will have a priority in SHU career service events and job fairs and Sacred Heart students will help fill positional needs in Nuvance facilities.
Local Nuvance Health facilities include Norwalk Hospital, Danbury Hospital, Milford Hospital and other local practices. Nuvance Health also came to an agreement with Northwell Health, expanding their reach to some Long Island hospitals, according to a Northwell Health press release from February.
The preferred partnership between organizations, coupled with the proximity of these facilities in relation to SHU, make clinical experiences and internships appealing to students.
“Getting an in-person clinical experience was near impossible, especially looking at hospitals or in-patient clinics. I think that the preferred partnership could be very beneficial in helping students get clinical experiences, especially with the connections to multiple nearby hospitals,” said senior Connor Scagliarini, an exercise science major.
SHU and Nuvance Health have worked together before; this partnership is not the start of something new but a finalization of a preexisting connection.
Dr. Karen Daley, Dean of the Davis & Henley College of Nursing, explained the layered relationship between the two organizations.
“The relationship is a long relationship. John Murphy is the CEO, and he has been a longtime colleague of our President John Petillo, so we have been working closely with them for many years, but this agreement formalizes our work,” said Daley.
This past summer, SHU and Nuvance put on the second annual nursing immersion program for local high school students, according to a SHU press release.
“It was Monday through Friday, they spent four days at SHU, and one day at Norwalk Hospital. We did a lot of fun things; we did a lot of nursing things too,” said O’Sullivan. “That day spent at the hospital was really a valuable experience for them. We had guest speakers, taught them CPR and they did a scholarly presentation at the end. It was a really great experience for them.”
In addition, this partnership aims to establish a fund of $1 million to award scholarships to students. The goal is to award 10 $5,000 scholarships per year, five dedicated to nursing students and five dedicated to other health professions.
“We are very much at the beginning of acquiring these scholarships together, but that is our intent,” said Daley.
