Nursing program to be evaluated Feb. 23 - 25
By Jo Zulkowsky
Evaluators from the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission will be on campus Feb. 23 – 25 to evaluate IVCC’s Associate Degree nursing program.
The evaluation is the last step of a voluntary accreditation process that the IVCC program has been preparing for since 1996.
The evaluators are chairperson Shirley P. Toney who has a Ph.D. as an R. N. and Bonnie Hesselberg, who has an M.S., ARNP. Toney is Dean of the School of Nursing at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Hesselberg is the director of the Associate Degree Nursing Program at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla.
Bonnie Grusk, chair of the health professions division, said Toney and Hesselberg will evaluate every aspect of the college in relationship to the nursing program, including the library, counseling center, reading/writing lab and general education courses nursing students enroll in.
The two will also inspect the nursing program itself. They will attend classes, talk with instructors and students and observe the clinical sites that IVCC sends students to.
In their first day, the evaluators will meet with Dr. Jean Goodnow, college president; Dr. Harriet Custer, vice president of academic affairs; and Dr. Frank Zeller, vice president of business services.
On the last day of their visit, the evaluators will present their preliminary findings; final results won’t be in until June, Grusk said. If the IVCC program meets all of the NLNAC standards, the program could be re-accredited for an eight-year period.
In preparation for the evaluating team, the nursing staff wrote a self study, revised their objectives, conducted surveys with graduates and employers, and used the feedback to make changes in the program.
Grusk said the accreditation has benefits for IVCC students because it quickens the process for those who intend to receive a Bachelor’s Degree by eliminating unnecessary testing and classes.
Also, grants are available through NLNAC to students who enroll at a college with a NLNAC-approved program.
Overall, accreditation helps the nursing program keep up with the constant changes in health care, Grusk said.
2/18/99 the Apache