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Students entering the program may have a two-year or four-year nursing degree, or they may already have a master's degree in nursing. Depending on the level of training coming in, it takes one to three years to complete the degree.

Nurses recruited through the grant-funded program, called Nurses Enhancing Mental Health Options for the Underserved in North Carolina, receive resources such as a free laptop computer. Tuition assistance is also available in exchange for a commitment to work in an underserved area.

To make attending school as easy as possible, UNC-CH modeled the psychiatric nurse practitioner program after executive degree programs that require only weekly or monthly visits to campus. It also incorporated courses taught via teleconference. That has enabled nurses from remote parts of the state to work toward degrees while continuing to work in their home communities.

A desperate need

"I probably wouldn't be able to do this without distance learning," said Kim Bronson of Garland, a small town in Sampson County about a two-hour drive from Chapel Hill.

Bronson, a single mother, works full time as a substance abuse nurse while also attending the psychiatric nurse practitioner program. She hopes to stay in Sampson County after she completes her training. Her dream is to open a substance abuse treatment center there or in nearby Robeson County. Both counties have a desperate need, she said.

"A lot of people don't know where to go or what to do to access services," Bronson said. "The emergency departments are inundated with psychiatric patients."

Since 2003, enrollment in the UNC-CH program has grown from two students to more than 50. Fewer than six have completed their psychiatric nurse practitioner degrees to date, but at least 14 more are expected to graduate this summer.

"We started slow, and we started small, so the numbers are not that impressive," said Linda Beeber, a professor of nursing at UNC-CH and founder of the psychiatric nurse practitioner program. "But give us a couple of years. It's certainly not the answer to the whole problem, but it's one proactive thing that nursing can offer."

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