Nursing receives high marks

The National League for Nursing Accrediting Commis-sion, Inc. (NLNAC) has recommended the nursing program for the maximum eight-year reaccreditation.

The NLNAC program evaluation team was on campus March 1 and 2 to begin the first phase of the reaccreditation process. The U.S. Department of Education recognizes the NLNAC as the national accrediting body for all types of nursing educating programs.

After two days of observing the nursing program and speaking with students, faculty and administrators, the four NLNAC representatives on campus gave the program the highest recommendation possible for reaccreditation.

For the first step of the reaccreditation process, the NLNAC team of four wrote a report about the program. Nursing Programs Director Dr. Cheryl Kish said they had very positive things to say about the program.

“In their final report, they said that the Georgia College & State University nursing program and the entire university really have the feel of a private liberal arts institution,” Kish said.

Senior nursing major Sarah Pittard met with the members of the accrediting team to share some of the positive aspects about the program.

“Our program is convenient for both traditional and non-traditional students,” Pittard said. “Our instructors are eager to help us learn and become the best nurses that we can be. Our program really seems to prepare students for the nursing field.”

The second phase of the reaccreditation process will take place in June when the reports and recommendations from the visiting team are shared with a review panel.

Reviews from all visited schools are shared at this time to allow the panel to put each school into perspective.

The final phase will take place July 3, when the panel will determine which schools will be reaccredited and for how long. GC&SU was previously reaccredited for the eight-year period and those in the nursing program hope to see that again this time around.

“It was an amazingly positive visit and I expect the school will be reaccredited,” Kish said.

Each school can either be reaccredited, denied accreditation or be reaccredited with conditions. To be reaccredited with conditions means that the school must have additional reports done on the program before the panel can make a decision.

“When a school is accredited, it is a sign of quality, meaning students who graduate are eligible for graduate school,” Kish said. “All military branches only take nurses from accredited schools and accreditation entitles the school to certain grant funding that supports student education.”

The review panel judges each school in the areas of mission and governance, faculty, students, curriculum and instruction, resources, integrity and educational effectiveness.

With hopes of reaccreditation, the students and faculty of the nursing program were thrilled to receive feedback on the program.

“I was very pleased with the input we received to better improve our program,” Pittard said. “I think that we received some constructive criticism that we can utilize in the future.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 1 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry