LIVE "CENTERNET" TELECAST
TO EXAMINE NURSING EDUCATION ACCREDITATION STANDARDS
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 11, 1997
-- Mark your calendars, and stay tuned as discussion of
educational accreditation in nursing and in the health professions
comes to television screens on campuses this fall.
In a collaboration with the American Association
of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), Centernet -- the Academic
Health Center Television Network -- will beam a live interactive
telecast on September 29 focusing on the standards developed
by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE),
the autonomous arm established by AACN to accredit baccalaureate
and graduate-degree nursing education programs beginning
approximately mid-1998. The 90-minute broadcast, which will
include questions from callers, will also look at recent
work by a task force of the Center for the Health Professions
of the University of California-San Francisco to improve
accreditation in health professions schools.
In October 1996, AACN member schools overwhelmingly
approved a proposal for the Association to take the lead
role in developing a new alliance of organizations to accredit
nursing higher education in a more streamlined, coordinated
process. Members also voted to establish a new AACN entity
that would have the sole purpose of accrediting bachelor's-
and higher-degree nursing programs.
"The membership's vote, by such a
clear majority of the consumers of accreditation services,
was a resounding mandate to move baccalaureate and graduate
nursing education to a new level of readiness for the next
millennium," says AACN President Carole A. Anderson, PhD,
RN, FAAN. "We are excited at this opportunity to work with
Centernet to seek input on CCNE's accreditation standards
from a broad spectrum of educators, clinicians, administrators,
and other stakeholders."
Scheduled to appear on this special telecast,
Serving the Public Through Quality Accreditation: Examining
the Standards, are several members of the CCNE Steering
Committee, including the panel's chair, Linda K. Amos,
EdD, RN, FAAN, dean of the College of Nursing at
the University of Utah and former chair of AACN's Task Force
on Nursing Accreditation; Lynda J. Davidson, PhD,
RN, on faculty at the School of Nursing at the University
of Pittsburgh and a nationally recognized member of the
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses who has extensive
experience in program evaluation and review; and Gary
L. Filerman, PhD, a noted health care policy expert
who most recently was associate director of the Pew Health
Professions Commission. Also scheduled is Sherril
B. Gelmon, Dr.PH, associate professor of public
health at the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland
State University in Portland, Oregon, and project director
of the national Task Force on Accreditation of Health Professions
Education of the Center for the Health Professions.
Susan Dentzer of U.S.
News and World Report will be moderator.
The program will air at 12 noon (Eastern).
The registration fee for AACN member schools is $390, and
$495 for nonmembers. Because the fee covers registration
for an entire institution, attendance by faculty, staff,
and students, as well as by clinicians and executives at
area health facilities, is included and encouraged.
Institutions wishing to determine their
capability to receive the satellite downlink, or to make
local arrangements for a site to receive the telecast, should
check with their learning resources or audio-visual coordinator
or Office of Continuing Education. For questions on technical
assistance, contact LaRene Tondro at Centernet at 1-800-300-3490.
To register for the telecast, contact
Centernet at 1-800-300-3490.
A list of nursing schools that are current
Centernet subscribers is available from Judy Gales at CCNE
at 202-887-6791 or jgales@aacn.nche.edu.
Registrants can tape the broadcast for internal use. Videotapes
of the broadcast will be available for $25.00 for registrants
and $390.00 for non-registrants.
The Commission on Collegiate
Nursing Education is an accrediting agency that ensures
the quality and integrity of baccalaureate and graduate
education programs that prepare effective nurses. CCNE serves
the public interest by assessing and identifying programs
that engage in effective educational practices. As the administrator
of a voluntary, non-governmental peer review process, CCNE
is autonomous in conducting all aspects of its evaluation
and accreditation activities.
The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college
education programs in nursing. Representing more than 580
member schools of nursing at public and private institutions
nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy,
data collection, publications, and other programs work to
establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate
and graduate nursing education, research, and practice.
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CONTACT: Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
