PROGRAM CHANGE
WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY

 

                                   

Submission Date:

 

College: Health Professions

 

Department: Nursing

 

Program Title: Associate of Science Degree  RN Completion (PN-RN)     

Nursing

RN Completion (PN-to-RN) AAS/AS

ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE DEGREE (AS)
ASSOCIATE OF APPLIED SCIENCE DEGREE (AAS)

ADN 2nd Year Director: Pamela Hugie, MS, RN

 

Program Secretary: Marguerite Simmons (801) 626-7416 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (801) 626-7416     end_of_the_skype_highlighting

 

» Grade Requirements: A minimum grade of "B-" in all Nursing courses in addition to a grade of "C" in each support course.

 

» Credit Hour Requirement: A minimum of 69 credit hours is required for the AAS A minimum of 84 61 credit hours is required for the AS (this does not include Practical Nursing Program nursing courses). Twenty residency hours are also required. Clinical Ratio is 1:3 (one clinical credit hour means there are three clock hours of clinical) for each week of the semester)

Advisement

Contact the DCHP Admission Office at (801) 626-6136 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (801) 626-6136      end_of_the_skype_highlighting for admission advisement.

Admission Requirements

Admission is competitive; therefore, the listed criteria listed on the application form for admission should be considered as minimum standards.

Associate of Science Degree Nursing (RN) AS

DCHP Admission Office (801) 626-6136 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (801) 626-6136      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Applicants for admission must first apply for admission to Weber State University. Applicants must also apply for admission to the Associate of Science Degree Nursing program. A 2 + 2 BSN Option is available to RN Completion (PN-to-RN) and AS nursing students that desire uninterrupted progression through the AS Degree to the RN-to-BSN Program level. Admission selections are made once per year. Applications may be obtained from the School of Nursing Admission Counselor, Room MH108B in the Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions. Applications must be completed and on file by 1 February of each year. A $25 application fee must be paid at the time the application is submitted. Admission applications are reviewed by the School of Nursing Program Admissions and Advancement Committee. Applicants are notified of committee decision by mail. 

Program selectees begin prerequisites summer semester and are admitted fall semester. All summer prerequisite courses must be successfully completed with a "C" grade or better in order to advance into fall semester. Admission requirements include the following:

Applicants must first apply for admission to Weber State University. Applicants must also apply for admission to the RN Completion (PN to RN) Program. Admission times and deadlines vary according to campus location. For applications and deadline information, please contact the School of Nursing Admission Counselor, Room MH108B, Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions. A $25 application fee must be paid at the time the application is submitted. Admission applications are reviewed and evaluated by the Nursing Program School of Nursing Admissions and Advancement Committee. Applicants are notified of committee decision by mail. Admission requirements include the following: are outlined on the admissions application available at http://www.weber.edu/nursing

RN Completion (PN-to-RN) AAS/AS

DCHP Admission Office (801) 626-6136 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (801) 626-6136      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Applicants must first apply for admission to Weber State University. Applicants must also apply for admission to the RN Completion Program. Admission times and deadlines vary according to campus location. For applications and deadline information, please contact the School of Nursing Admission Counselor, Room MH108B, Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions. A $25 application fee must be paid at the time the application is submitted. Admission applications are reviewed and evaluated by the Nursing Program Admissions and Advancement Committee. Applicants are notified of committee decision by mail. Admission requirements include the following:

Major Course Requirements for AS Degree RN Completion (PN-to-RN) AS Option

Nursing Courses Required (must be taken in sequence)
RN Completion students start in the 3rd semester of the associate degree program

First Year Fall

First Year Spring

Second Year Fall Third Semester

 

Second Year Spring Fourth Semester

 

Prerequisite/Support Courses Required
(must be taken in sequence listed or earlier)

Prerequisite and Ssupport courses must be completed and passed with a "C" or better prior to progression to the next semester.

 

First Year Summer Prerequisites

 

NURSING PREREQUISITE

·         Graduate of an NLNAC Accredited Practical Nursing Program or equivalent program (a challenge examination may be required for those graduating from an equivalent program)

·         Licensed as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Utah PN-NCLEX eligible with passing LPN Boards during semester three.

 

OPTION I

or       OPTION II

And

·         HTHS LS1110 Health Sciences (Biomed) (4)

·         HTHS 1111 Health Sciences Lab (Biomed) (4) 

OR     

·         Zoology 2100 Human Anatomy (4)

Zoology 2200 Human Physiology (4) 

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES

First Year Fall

First Year Spring

Second Year Summer

Second Year Fall Third Semester

Second Year Spring Fourth Semester

Check all that apply: 

 

__X__New course(s) required for major, minor, emphasis, or concentration.

__ __Modified course(s) required for major, minor, emphasis, or concentration.

__X__Credit hour change(s) required for major, minor, emphasis, or concentration.

____Credit hour change(s) for a course which is required for the major, minor, emphasis, or concentration.

____Attribute change(s) for any course.

____Program name change.

__X__Deletion of required course(s).

____Other changes (specify) _________________________________________________________________

 

If multiple changes are being proposed, please provide a summary.   Use strikeout (strikeout) when deleting items in the program and highlight (highlight) when adding items.

 

Submit the original to the Faculty Senate Office, MC 1033, and an electronic copy to kbrown4 @weber.edu

 

JUSTIFICATION:

Justification for Change to the School of Nursing Institutional Certificate, Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science and Baccalaureate Degree Programs

Weber State University-School of Nursing (WSU-SON) must employ a concentrated effort to continue to promote and provide educational development that will address the needs of our community and our changing health care system through curriculum revision and implementation. The goal for WSU-SON has always been to promote excellent education to the nursing student and provide quality health care to the local community and rural populations of Utah. The old model of nursing education, in general, is outdated and is fast becoming obsolete in preparing nursing graduates for the future of healthcare.

There is a pressing need to revise and improve nursing education to “ensure the delivery of safe, patient-centered care across settings” (Institute of Medicine (IOM): The Brief Report, 2010, p. 2). The National League for Nursing (NLN) (2009) has also stressed the importance of maintaining a high level of quality and outcome of student achievement in the classroom and clinical setting while the future of nursing is advancing and changing. This is also a significant need addressed in Standard 6 of the National League of Nursing Accreditation Committee (NLNAC) (2009) and repeated in the mission statement of the Weber State University School of Nursing (WSU SON). This standard specifically discusses the student learning outcomes and competencies and the need to insure those outcomes are being achieved. This revised curriculum will rely heavily on the suggestions made by the IOM, the NLN, and the NLNAC.

The following are a few of the recommendations from the IOM report, the Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2010). These are only a few of the suggestions relevant to this curriculum revision but these few suggestions identify key reasons to revise WSU SON education curricula and capacity to meet consumer needs:

·         Major changes in the US health care system and practice will require equally profound changes in the education of the nurses both before and after they receive their licenses.

·         Nursing education needs to be transformed in a number of ways to prepare nursing graduates to work collaboratively and effectively with other health professionals in a complex and evolving health care system across settings.  Moreover, nurses must achieve higher levels of education and training to respond to these increasing demands.

·         Education should include opportunities for seamless transition into higher degree programs. Entry-level nurses, for example, need to be able to transition smoothly from their academic preparation to a range of practice environments, with an increased emphasis on community and public health settings.

·         To improve the quality of patient care, a greater emphasis must be placed on making the nursing workforce more diverse, particularly in the areas of gender and race/ethnicity.

With these relevant recommendations the WSU SON is proposing revisions to the Institutional Certificate, Associate Degree, Associate of Applied Science, and Baccalaureate Degree nursing curriculum.

These changes include:

·         Increasing the opportunity for seamless transition from the Associate of Science Degree in Nursing (ADN) to the Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing.

 

As part of this process, the nursing faculty reviewed the credit hours that students are currently required to take in all three programs and compared that to other programs on both a national and state level (see attachment). It was determined that WSU SON on average, requires more credit hours for a baccalaureate degree in nursing than other nursing programs.  The NLNAC has also identified, in their 2011 visit to WSU SON campus, that the length of the ADN program is not consistent with the policies of the governing organization of national guidelines and best practices.

 

The proposed curriculum offers four (4) nursing courses totaling twelve (12) credit hours as upper division nursing courses at the associate degree level. By adding these hours at the ADN level, students continuing to the baccalaureate BSN degree will only be required to take twenty-five (25) nursing credit hours. This decrease in the total number of nursing credit hours at the BSN level will allow the SON to increase the total enrollment in the BSN program and allow for a greater number of nurses to reach a higher educational level through a seamless progression.

Including 3000 level courses in the associate degree program is a significant change.

 

We have looked at nursing programs in the state of Utah who prepare students to take the NCLEX-RN. They require 36-57 credit hours of nursing courses to prepare students for this exam. To accomplish our mission for associate degree nursing education and provide our students with a timely and competitive option for baccalaureate education, placing 3000 level course work in the associate degree was necessary.

 

This change is comparable to UVU’s BS completion option. At UVU, students take 16 nursing credit hours of 3000 level courses at the associate level and then take an additional 25 nursing credit hours of 4000 level courses to complete the BSN option. UVU’s ASN program is 70 credits but the BSN transition program which is equivalent to our proposed AS degree is 88 total hours.

 

The WSU SON revised associate degree curriculum is 74 total hours, 36 hours in 2000 and 3000 level nursing courses, minimum 35 hours general education and 3 hours for Pathophysiology. No additional coursework is required to transition to the BSN program.

 

·         The revised curriculum plan maintains the pre-requisite and support courses already in place.

 

·         Deleting the Institutional Certificate program.

 

·         The present nursing curriculum is inconsistent in credit hours and requires the student to take a varying number of credits each semester. This inconsistency causes confusion and difficulty for the students who are required to take full time credit hours to maintain scholarships and financial aid. The revised curriculum will create a consistent and equal credit load for the students each semester.

 

·         In the present curriculum, the students are required to take seven (7) or eight (8) semesters of nursing course work (four semesters in the ADN program and three or four semesters in the BSN program). The revised curriculum will maintain a consistent six (6) semesters; four (4) in the ADN program and two (2) in the BSN program.

 

·         The present curriculum is a content driven curriculum. The revised curriculum will incorporate concepts, competencies, and outcomes, as suggested by the IOM (2010), the NLN (2009), and the NLNAC (2009).

 

·         To reflect the current healthcare environment the following six competencies suggested by the Quality and Safety for Nurses (QSEN) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2011 have been identified as the organizing framework for each of the revised courses. These include:

 

o   Patient-Centered Care

o   Teamwork & Collaboration

o   Evidence Based Practice

o   Quality Improvement

o   Safety

o   Informatics

References

Benner, P., Sutphen, M., Leonard, V., & Day, L. (2010). Educating nurses: A call for radical transformation. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.

Institute of Medicine of the Academies: The Future of Nursing (2010).       http://www.iom.edu/reports/2010/the -future-of-nursing-leading-change-advancing-            health.aspx

National League for Nursing (2009) – http://www.nln.org/excellence/model/index.htm

National League for Nursing Accrediting Committee (2009) –             http://www.nlnac.org/manuals/NLNACManual2008.pdf

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2011). Quality and safety education for nurses.                                   http://www.qsen.org.

                                               

INFORMATION PAGE

 

Attach a copy of the present program from the current catalog and a revised version (exactly as you wish it to appear in the catalog).

 

Did this program change receive unanimous approval within the Department? Yes  If not, what are the major concerns raised by the opponents?

 

 

Explain any effects this program change will have on program requirements or enrollments in other departments including the Bachelor of Integrated Studies Program.  In the case of similar offerings or affected programs, you should include letters from the departments in question stating their support or opposition to the proposed program.

Indicate the number of credit hours for course work within the program.  (Do not include credit hours for General Education, SI, Diversity, or other courses unless those courses fulfill requirements within the proposed program.)            

 

Indicate the number of credit hours for course work within the current program. (Do not include credit hours for General Education, SI, Diversity, or other courses unless those courses fulfill requirements within the current program.) __56__