This summer, Nurses Educational Funds, Inc. (NEF) awarded a total of 32 graduate nursing scholarships to nurses attending 21 different graduate nursing programs across the United States.
Leah Frain, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student who is attending Regis College’s Young School of Nursing in Weston, Massachusetts, was awarded a NEF Scholarship this summer.
Leah earned an undergraduate (BSN) in 1995 and graduate (MSN) degree in 1998, both from the University of Florida. Leah has known she wanted to be a nurse for as long as she can remember, and her empathetic nature and love for children have inspired her to pursue a DNP degree to focus on pediatric nursing.
Learn More About Regis' DNP Program
“Though the generous financial support of organizations such as the Nurses Educational Funds, Inc., those interested in pursuing a career in nursing are provided resources to grow in their profession” said Leah Frain. “Following the unrelenting demands the pandemic placed upon nurses, there exists an acute shortage of nurses in the country. I look forward to earning my Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at Regis College so that I may make even greater contributions to providing compassionate care to those in need.”
The choice to pursue her DNP was based on the desire to develop a greater foundation in research. Leah's current role is the Nurse Practitioner (NP) pulmonary consultant for a surgical team specializing in disorders of the esophagus and airway, including esophageal atresia and tracheomalacia. In her role as a provider for a medically complex population, she observed that care for parents and caregivers is as critical as the care of the pediatric patient. One of the things she noticed is that a parent's belief in their ability to care for their child plays a significant role in the child's outcomes. This led her to embark on identifying interventions that can improve parental self-efficacy.
Leah's current research is focused on improving parental self-efficacy in parents of children with airway abnormalities through a standardized education program. This education initiative aims to improve parental knowledge, confidence, and overall self-efficacy. In developing this, Leah hopes to improve care by creating standardized education programs that can be expanded for use with other diagnoses.
Regis DNP students complete a 27-credit core curriculum, as well as nine elective credits. This includes coursework on advanced research methods, as well as four scholarly project classes which allow students to explore in-depth critical issues in healthcare and share their findings with the healthcare community.
Obtaining a DNP degree will enable Leah to pursue more research opportunities and develop evidence-based practice changes to improve the quality of health care for pediatric patients and their parents.
Nurses Educational Funds, Inc. NEF
Read the biographies of this year’s 32 Scholarship recipients on the NEF website.
Nurses Educational Funds, Inc., (NEF) is one of the largest non-profit professionally endorsed sources of scholarships for graduate nursing master’s and doctorate degree study in the U.S. and depends solely on donations to advance its only mission, to promote leadership through scholarship support for professional nurses seeking masters and doctorate degrees in nursing education, practice, research, administration, and health policy.
The need for nurse leaders in the United States is more critical than ever. NEF funded scholars have become outstanding faculty and deans of schools of nursing, renowned researchers, and expert administrators – all leading change in every arena across the country and globally. Since NEF’s inception in 1912, over 1,300 nurses throughout the United States have received NEF scholarships.
The annual NEF Scholarship online application process opens on October 1, 2022 and closes on February 1, 2023. If you are interested in applying for a graduate nursing scholarship, please go to n-e-f.org and click on, “Apply”. All the scholarship eligibility requirements are printed there.
