Applicant Information Bulletin: School Year 2009-2010
Fulfilling the Service Commitment
Years of Service Owed
Participants who sign "Full-Time Student"
Contracts incur one (1) year of full-time
obligated service for each full or partial school
year of support received, with a minimum 2-year full-time
service obligation. For example, a student who receives
a full year of support (12 months) the first school
year, a partial year of support (6 months) the second
school year, and a full year of support the third
school year will owe the equivalent of 3 years of
full-time clinical service.
Participants who sign “Part-Time Student” Contracts
incur a 2-year service obligation or the part-time
equivalent of one year for each school year the participant
receives a scholarship, whichever is greater.
Full-Time or Part-Time
Clinical Service
Participants may satisfy their service obligations
on either a full-time or part-time basis:
- Full-time clinical practice is defined as a minimum
of 32 hours per week for a minimum of 45 weeks per
year. At least 26 hours per week must be spent providing
clinical services to patients.
- Part-time clinical practice is defined as a minimum
of 16 hours per week and up to a maximum of 31 hours
per week, for a minimum of 45 weeks per year. At
least 80% of the hours each week must be spent providing
clinical services to patients. (For example, a nurse
scheduled to work 20 hours per week must spend at
least 16 hours per week providing clinical services).
No more than 7 weeks (28 work days) per service year
can be spent away from the approved practice site
for vacation, holidays, continuing education, illness,
maternity, or any other reason. For consecutive periods
of absences greater than 7 weeks in a 52-week service
year, the participant should request a suspension.
See “Waiver, Suspension, or Cancellation
of the Commitment.” A break in service will extend
the service obligation end date.
Participants wishing to serve part-time must obtain
approval from the NSP and must agree to extend their
service obligation so that the aggregate amount of
service performed will equal the amount of a full-time
service obligation. See “Ending
Date of Obligated Service" below for an explanation
of how the length of the part-time service obligation
is determined. Requests to pursue part-time service
at less than 16 hours per week will not be approved.
NSP Service Sites
NSP participants must provide full-time or part-time
clinical service in a health care facility with a
critical shortage of nurses located in a State. By
statute, eligible health care facilities include:
- Ambulatory Surgical Centers;
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (including
Look Alike Health Centers);
- Home Health Agencies;
- Hospice Programs;
- Hospitals;
- Indian Health Service Health Centers;
- Native Hawaiian Health Centers;
- Nursing Homes;
- Rural Health Clinics;
- Skilled Nursing Facilities; and
- State or local Public Health Departments including
Public Health Clinics within the Departments
See glossary for definitions
of State and health care facility types set forth
above.
Ineligible sites include but are not limited to:
- Assisted Living Facilities.
- Free Standing Clinics that do not qualify as
one of the above critical shortage facilities;
- Private Practice Offices; and
- Renal Dialysis Centers.
Service Placement Process
Recipients will have up to 6 months from their date
of graduation to: 1) obtain a nursing license and
2) accept an offer of employment from an NSP-approved
facility. Recipients will have up to 3 months following
the date of the acceptance of such job offer to commence
full-time (or if approved, part-time) clinical services
at the facility.
Recipients should contact the Scholar Support Branch
of the Division of Scholar and Clinician Support at
1-800-221-9393 prior to accepting employment to assure
facility/position eligibility. The NSP reserves the
right to grant final approval of all service locations,
in order to insure a scholar's compliance with statutory
requirements related to the service obligation. Once
employment begins, scholars are required to submit
an initial Employment Certification Form and submit
a employment verification form every 6 months thereafter
until the service obligation is completed.
Recipients who fail to accept an offer of employment
from an NSP-approved eligible facility within 6 months
of their date of graduation, or who fail to start
service within 3 months of the date of their acceptance
of such offer of employment, may be recommended for
default of their service obligation. Recipients, who
default on their NSP service obligation, incur the
damages described below in the "Defaulting on the Scholarship Commitment – Breach of Contract"
section.
Licensure/Certification Required
Prior to commencing service, a scholarship recipient
must be permanently licensed to practice as
a registered nurse (or if appropriate, as an advanced
practice nurse) in the State where he/she will be
serving. Credit towards fulfillment of the
scholarship commitment will not be given in the absence
of a current, unencumbered permanent license in the
State of service. In addition, advanced practice nurses
are expected to pass a national certification examination
for their specialty (that is administered by a nationally
recognized certifying body) prior to commencing service.
No service credit will be given until the Division
of Scholar and Clinician Support at 5600 Fishers Lane,
8-15, Rockville, Maryland 20857 has received documentation
that all licensure and certification requirements
have been met.
Responsibility for obtaining the required State license
(and national certification exam, if applicable) prior
to the service start date rests with the scholarship
recipient. Scholars are expected to take the appropriate
licensure/certification exams at the earliest possible
date. If the recipient is unsuccessful in obtaining
a license or passing the certification exams within
6 months of his or her graduation date, the recipient
should immediately contact the Scholar Support Branch
of the Division of Scholar and Clinician Support,
in writing, at 5600 Fishers Lane, 8-15, Rockville,
Maryland 20857 to request a suspension. See "Waiver,
Suspension or Cancellation of the Commitment"
section in this Bulletin.
Beginning Date of Service Commitment
Nurses must begin their service at an NSP-approved
eligible facility within 3 months of the date of their
acceptance of employment at that facility and within
9 months from the date of graduation. The recipient
and an authorized representative of the NSP-approved
facility should negotiate a start date within this
timeframe.
Credit for service toward the nursing scholarship
commitment does not begin until: (1) the scholar has
submitted documentation demonstrating that the scholar
has met the license/certification requirements; and
(2) the NSP receives documentation that the scholar
begins to provide full-time (or part-time, if approved)
clinical services at a NSP-approved eligible facility/position.
Delaying Start of Service
Recipients with documented, extreme circumstances
which jeopardize the start of service may request
to suspend their service commitments for up to one
(1) year. Such requests must be sent in writing to
the Scholar Support Branch of the Division of Scholar
and Clinician Support at 5600 Fishers Lane 8-15, Rockville,
Maryland 20857 See "Waiver,
Suspension or Cancellation of the Commitment"
section in this Bulletin.
Ending Date of Obligated Service
For scholars serving on a full-time basis, the last
day of the service commitment is calculated by counting
the number of days of full-time service owed from
the service start date. For example, the last day
of service for a recipient with a 3-year service commitment
who began service on July 15, 2009, would be July
14, 2012.
Scholars serving on a part-time basis must agree
to extend their service obligations so that the aggregate
amount of the part-time service performed will equal
the amount of their full-time service obligation.
For scholars serving on a part-time basis, the length
of their service commitment will be determined by
dividing 100 by the minimum percentage of the full-time
obligation being served and then multiplying that
amount by the number of days of full-time service
owed. For example, a nursing student owes 2 years
(730 days) of full-time service and has signed an
employment contract to work a minimum of 20 hours
per week. Twenty hours per week represents 62.5% of
the full-time service obligation (20/32 = .625 or
62.5 percent). Dividing 100 by 62.5 equals 1.6, and
1.6 multiplied by 730 equals 1,168. Thus, this scholar
would owe 1,168 days of part-time service, and the
service end date would be 1,168 days from the service
start date.
Adjustments to the ending date may be made by the
Division of Scholar and Clinician Support if the scholar
takes more than the allowable time away from the site
(see "Full-Time or Part-Time Clinical Service") section
and if the service is suspended, interrupted, or otherwise
delayed.
Leaving the Service Site (Changing Jobs)
Participants are expected to complete their service
obligation at their initial service site. Should
participants be unable to complete their obligation
at their initial NSP service site, they must continue
their service at another NSP-approved service site.
When a break in service occurs, the participant’s
service end date will be extended.
When a participant desires a transfer, a written
request must be submitted to the Division of Scholar
and Clinician Support (DSCS) at 5600 Fishers Lane
8A-15, Rockville, Maryland 20857 for approval. A
transfer request should be submitted before the participant
leaves his or her current service site. All transfer
sites must be approved by the NSP. Leaving the assigned
site without prior written approval by the DSCS may
result in a default recommendation.
Next Section > Defualting on the
Scholarship Commitment
Questions? CallCenter@hrsa.gov or 1-800-221-9393 (TTY: 1-877-897-9910), Monday through Friday (except Federal holidays), 9 am to 5:30 pm ET.
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