Texas Board of Nursing approves Sam Houston State SNAPI pilot to recruit bedside nurses into clinical teaching roles

The Texas Board of Nursing on Oct. 23 approved an innovative pilot from Sam Houston State University that aims to expand clinical teaching capacity by contracting with hospitals to “buy out” bedside nurses’ time so those nurses can serve as clinical instructors without losing pay or benefits.

Sam Houston’s Shared Nurse Academic Practice Partnership Initiative — SNAPI — proposes a contractual model in which hospitals preserve a nurse’s full-time employment and compensation while allocating a portion of that nurse’s schedule to clinical instruction. The university and participating health systems would coordinate onboarding, course orientation and mentorship for SNAPI RNs; the pilot will collect outcome data to assess whether the model increases clinical capacity in rural and underserved regions.

“SNAPI is a functional contractual framework that allows a bedside nurse to teach prelicensure students through a time buyout arrangement,” Devin Berry, director of Sam Houston…