By Staff, Baptist Message
PINEVILLE – Louisiana College’s nursing program has been restored to “full approval” status by the Louisiana State Board of Nursing.
In an article in the April 17th Alexandria Town Talk newspaper, LC nursing school dean Dean Kimberly Sharp said she had received a letter dated Feb. 23 from LSBN Director of Education and Licensure, stating the board’s staff would recommend the college be restored to full approval.
The LSBN board placed the LC’s nursing program on “conditional approval” status last year after it failed to meet board standards for the 2008-2009 academic year for both NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination) pass rates and issues with LC’s faculty.
According to information on the LSBN website, schools with a “conditional approval” rating must submit a plan for correcting specific deficiencies. Schools have three years in which to improve and meet the requirements of the LSBN before the board will place the school on “non-approval” status.
The two areas of concern cited by the LSBN were:
Only 60 percent of the May 2009 LC nursing graduates passed the NCLEX test, which is the state licensure exam, on their first attempt, which is below the LSBN’s benchmark of 80 percent. According to information on the LSBN website, “the test is designed to test knowledge, skills, and abilities essential to the safe and effective practice of nursing at the entry level.”
Additionally, LC was cited for failing to meet the LSBN’s “Faculty Exception Rate,” for not having an adequate ratio of faculty members with master’s degrees or higher to those with bachelor degrees.
In an Aug. 20th interview, Kimberly Sharp, Dean of the School of Nursing and Allied Health, told the Message, “The plan we have composed will removed the ‘conditional approval’ state with the state board of nursing soon.”
The issue with “faculty exception,” for which the nursing program at LSU-Alexandria was also placed on “conditional approval,” was as much matter of the state board becoming more stringent in enforcement as it was a deficiency by LC and LSU-A.
Past practice saw some schools using instructors with Bachelor of Science degrees in Nursing to oversee clinical instruction for students. As a result, this skewed the ratio of BSN’s to master or higher degreed faculty. This was the case with LC and LSU-A. Recently, the LSBN became stricter in allowing this practice. Both schools have corrected the ratio and now meet the LSBN requirement.
The conditional approval the board gave LC after the 2009 results didn’t take into account that nine of the 10 graduates who took the test again passed and are now working in nursing jobs, both State Board Executive Director Barbara Morvant and Sharp confirmed.
Sharp went on to say, “Currently, of the 2010 graduates that have sat for the state board exam, 86 percent have passed on the first attempt.” The ‘faculty exception rate’ was also corrected during that same time period.”
Eighteen of LC’s 22 first-time test-takers in 2010 passed NCLEX, pushing the results above the state board’s minimum 80 percent.
Sharp credited improved faculty, better training facilities and a program that monitors students’ progress as they advance toward graduation and the NCLEX.
“The resources, the faculty, the support from the administration, all those things are pieces that need to be there to support student outcome,” Sharp was quoted in the Town Talk article.
“But at the end of the day, it’s up to the students to be accountable for their studies, their effort, their integrity, because they have to sit and put the effort in to making that work for them.”
Sharp also said that all 17 December graduates of LC’s nursing accelerated-degree program who took the test earlier this year passed on the first try. Those results have not yet been officially released by the state board and will count toward 2011 results.
Sharp said she wanted the 17 graduates in December to take the test in 2010 because it’s important that graduates take the state test as soon possible. The 100 percent pass rate by the December graduates also would have raised LC’s pass rate for 2010 to almost 90 percent.
The state nursing board also has removed the conditional approval status of LC for not having enough masters-level instructors or those with a Ph.D. The schools’ nursing department has hired enough instructors with the needed credentials to satisfy the state board’s requirements.
“I believe that the program has wonderful potential,” Sharp wrote in an email to the Baptist Message. “We are growing and we have the strongest intake numbers for the upper division applicant places that we have ever had for fall 2011. We are needing to hire more faculty to address the growth.”
“Our Nursing Skills Center is continuing to develop and our faculty are becoming more expert in simulation,” Sharp added. “The quality of the equipment in the nursing skills center has been recognized by the company that manufactures and provides this equipment by nominating LC to be a demonstration and training center for nursing simulation for the state of Louisiana.”