CAPACITY (Community Academic Partnership for Primary Care Nursing Transformation)

No, you are not. However, we hope by the time you graduate you will recognize the importance of primary care. Much of what you learn will be useful to you when caring for acute care patients, as you will understand the social determinants of health that affect them when they are discharged and what might make them come back to the hospital. if you plan to work in primary care either upon graduation or later in your career, we hope to have prepared you well to practice to the full scope of your license—which means that you would be providing expert nursing care related to care coordination, chronic disease management, and other nursing care.

CAPACITY scholars are required to sign an agreement prior to being admitted to the program to make sure they understand the different activities that HRSA, our CAPACITY grant funding agency, said we must have students complete. The activities are as follows:

• Complete 150 clinical hours in a primary care setting at one of the clinical partner sites such as Mercy Care of Atlanta. (Note: this 150-hour requirement is part of the 575 hours that are required to complete your nursing program. CAPACITY scholars complete their 150 hours at Mercy Care, whereas students who are not in CAPACITY would complete these 150 hours at other clinical sites where Emory School of Nursing assigns nursing students.)
• Complete a two-credit hour Primary Care Nursing course in the third or fourth semester of their program. For your program, there is one elective that is required. CAPACITY students will complete the Primary Care Nursing course to fulfill this elective requirement.
• Participate in a Summer Clinical Immersion program at one of the primary care sites (Moultrie or Mercy Care).
• Participate in the Grady Health Coaching program
• Participate in activities that CAPACITY faculty believe will enhance competencies in primary care nursing (Note: these activities will be planned to work within your academic program).

No – 150 primary care hours are part of the total 575 clinical hours required in the program, not extra.

No. You will complete other rotations at various clinical sites. For example, you will be at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for your pediatric rotation, or at Emory Mid-town or Gwinnett Medical Center for obstetric rotation.

You still have other 575 clinical hours in all the other different specialties (i.e. medical/surgical nursing, pediatric nursing, maternity nursing, and psychiatric-mental health nursing). Students who are not CAPACITY students spend the equivalent 150 clinical hours in similar community-based settings, but not at primary care clinics such as Mercy Care.

CAPACITY is a HRSA-funded project with excellent learning opportunities and scholarship funds awarded to students who show evidence that they would be an excellent primary care nurse. Having a letter reference helps us identify the best students for our program.

Fall 1 – 25 hrs. with N309-Social Responsibility & Bioethics in Nursing

Spring 1 – 50 hrs. with N315 – Population Health: Community and Public Health Nursing

Fall 2 – 25 hrs. with N502 – Primary Care Nursing elective

Spring 2 - 50 hrs. with N432-Ambulatory Care Nursing 

These rotations are subject to change to ensure a minimum of 150 clinical hours in primary care are met.

The grant budget includes a Summer stipend of approximately $1,500 for CAPACITY scholars. If you were selected for the program, you would receive your stipend in the Summer of 2021. We will provide more details in the spring of 2021.

No, not always, but with your packed schedule, service learning activities usually fall on Mondays, with other options of Thursdays, Fridays, and sometimes Saturdays. For those who work, it will be challenging to complete the service learning hours, so try not to schedule work on Mondays until you are clear about your clinical schedule.

As a full-time student, you can take as many electives as you want as long as you maintain your GPA and the electives do not conflict with the primary care electives.