The nursing program underwent an accreditation review last week by members from the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and received no citations.
This three-day process is one of two that the program has to undergo in order to renew their accreditation, one on the state level and this one on the national level. The last review was when the program first started up in 2009.
“We went through this process about five years ago and received, again, no citations,” Margaret Winter, director of the department of nursing, said.
The members from the CCNE reviewed the program in its entirety, looking at the clinical locations, the classrooms, the university itself, etc. They will take the report back to the national organization, where it will undergo further review. Once they have finished, the report will be sent back to the university.
“We have the opportunity, if we see anything in that report, we have the opportunity to refute it or make any corrections or changes that are needed,” Winter said.
The report will be sent back to the CCNE, and will be brought before their board April of next year.
“Usually they will accept the majority of the report that the team members have written while they’re here on campus,” Winter said. “The fact that we’ve had no citations is absolutely wonderful.”
The university’s nursing program will not receive their final accreditation approval until end of April or beginning of May 2016.
The program has the opportunity of receiving a ten-year accreditation instead of a five, which was previously the maximum allowed as a new program. Again, that will be determined by the CCNE board.
The accreditation of the program is what will allow the nursing students to pursue higher education in this field, or even grant them the ability to find a job.
“There’s not many programs that I know of in higher, advanced education, like the masters and doctorate, that will accept from a program that is not accredited by somewhat of a national accreditation in the nursing field,” Winter said. “Also, there are some institutions that will not hire students unless they are graduated from an accredited program.”
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