Project TINES

About the Project

Project TINES (Trauma-Informed Nursing Education on Substance Use)

Project TINES is an innovative Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funded initiative within the Jefferson College of Nursing designed to transform graduate nursing education by integrating trauma-informed care principles and evidence-based substance use disorder (SUD) practices into didactic and clinical training. We equip clinical placement sites with the resources and training necessary to support student learning and enhance patient care and recovery. Project TINES works with new local community partners in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; Kent and Sussex Counties in Delaware; and Cumberland and Atlantic Counties in New Jersey.

Project Need

Receiving help for Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) can be difficult in some areas because of limited resources, stigma, and cultural issues. Our training and support programs aim to give healthcare providers, focusing on graduate nursing students, the skills and knowledge they need to overcome these challenges and help people with SUDs.

In many rural areas, clinics rely heavily on Nurse Practitioners (NPs) to care for people with SUDs. NPs are also the fastest-growing group of SUD providers in these settings. Given their critical role, and the ongoing shortage of mental health providers in certain regions, our education and training efforts focus on primary care and psychiatric NP students and their clinical sites.

Goals and Objectives

    Goal 1: Integrate a Sustainable TI-SUD Core Curriculum
    • Establish a comprehensive set of Trauma-Informed SUD (TI-SUD) Core Concepts for graduate nursing education. We are using the Delphi method to establish these core concepts. For more information on this process, please see https://ebn.bmj.com/content/23/3/68.
    • Deliver TI-SUD education for graduate nursing programs within JCN, including Adult Gerontology, Family-Individual Across the Lifespan, Neonatal, Psychiatric/Mental Health, Women's Health, and Pediatric Primary Care.
    Goal 2: Expand Clinical Placement Opportunities for SUD Treatment
    • Increase the number of nursing students who gain hands-on experience in screening, assessing, and providing evidence-based treatment for SUDs.
    • Expand partnerships with clinical sites, focusing on Kent and Sussex counties in Delaware (DE), and Cumberland and Atlantic counties in New Jersey (NJ).
    Goal 3: Build Clinical Expertise at Sites
    • Develop online resources and tools, including a dedicated Project TINES website and learning management system.
    • Train healthcare professionals at clinical sites to enhance their knowledge and capacity in TI-SUD screening, assessment, and treatment practices.
    Goal 4: Increase SUD Competency Across Systems
    • Establish a Rural TI-SUD Learning Collaborative to promote knowledge and resource sharing among nurse practitioner preceptors and providers across diverse healthcare settings.
    • Train healthcare professionals across local, county, and state health systems on TI-SUD principles and evidence-based practices.