Scalable Models for Academic Progression

Beth, Your innovative program is such an excellent illustration of how bold we must be to meet our goals. You have so many important insights to share in your video that will help others to be successful in their efforts. Your partnerships with health care organizations is such a key part of your success and your presentation gives such clear rationale and step by step implementation ideas. You have addressed in your posting and your video how you have met the increased need for clinical sites due to increased enrollment. I also hear about the many challenges meeting the increase need for faculty. Can you share how you are able to attain and retain the number of qualified faculty necessary for this significant increase in enrollment? Thank you.

Beth we appreciate UTAs bold leadership in advancing the future of nursing in Texas. My question is: How can state universities who are not engaged in a public-private academic partnership use the UTA model or portions of it to scale up enrollments? Or do you believe this model will only work in conjuction with a private partner. Also what are the greatest challenge you have faced in launching these innovative programs?

Hi Beth! Thank you for the excellent presentation and the work being done in nursing education. I have two questions for you. 1. How many of the students in the on-line RN-BSN program are from Texas? 2. How does UTA manage the clinical portion of the RN-BSN program for the students who live in Texas and those who live outside of Texas? Thanks!

Thank you, Mary Sue. Dealing with the shortage of faculty is an important element to being able to increase capacity in both the pre-licensure BSN and RN to BSN programs. In this model, the pre-licensure BSN program needs are met by working with our partner hospitals along with using traditional recruitment methods and word of mouth to recruit qualified individuals to fill our needs to supervise students in our targeted clinical experiences. The AP students complete the same number of clinical hours as our on-campus students but they do those hours in a shorter period of time -- 5-8 weeks compared to 15 weeks. In our AP BSN program, the availability of clinical sites in the facilities of our hospital/health system partners are typically on off-shifts and week-ends. We find there are individuals willing to work the shorter terms (5 to 8 weeks) in this program as opposed to semester-long contracts. So the bottom-line is flexible scheduling and a strong orientation and support team to assist the clinical faculty to feel (and be) confident, competent, an integral part of our clinical faculty. An interesting and positive outcome of this approach is a number of the individuals who started part time as a clinical instructor in the AP program have now become full-time faculty. We currently have a waiting list of applicants who are interested in clinical instructor positions so we feel as if we are helping to create a new pipeline for faculty into the future. Thanks for asking.

A good question, Alexia. Having an external partner has been very important to our success. They brought expertise in student recruitment and processing applications that has helped us reach out to more students, especially in the RN-to-BSN program, and provide accessible, affordable, and high quality educational programs that meet the needs of a side variety of students. We believe that working with Academic Partnerships has allowed the College of Nursing to focus on our core competency -- educating students. We believe that having state-of-the art systems and processes that maximize the applicant and student experience is key to success. If state universities are able to provide these services from within their organization, that would certainly work. To create these innovative programs takes time, intentionality, and commitment from every area of the organization in order to be successful and scale the programs to such high levels. Having an external partner who is able to work collaboratively helps to overcome the barriers of our own ritual and tradition. This is what I believe is our greatest challenge--a history of success in doing exactly what has always been done. Coming to agreement as a group to the goals--high volume, high quality, accessible, and affordable programs--and setting an aggressive timeline to achieve the goals are foundational to move the programs forward. A program of this sort..that breaks down our traditional ideas of semester-bound courses and campus-bound education..requires support from almost every department on campus. We couldn't do what we are doing without everyone being on the team. Beth

Hello, Kathryn. The vast majority of students in the Academic Partnership RN to BSN program are from Texas....approximately 85 to 95% based on the cohort. This reflects the significant number of ADN- and diploma-prepared registered nurses in Texas who have responded to the delivery of an affordable and accessible program that meets their need for flexibility in scheduling and strong student support services. The 5-week terms for our courses allow students -- many of whom who are working full time -- to take off a 5-week period when needed for work or personal reasons and start back quickly without having to wait for another semester to begin. The student success focus also allows for early identification and intervention of at risk-students. We believe that flexibility and focus on student success is essential if we are going to reach the IOM recommendation of an 80% BSN-prepared workforce by 2020, especially here in Texas. Consistent with The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Practice and the guidelines of the Texas Board of Nursing both our on-campus and Academic Partnership RN to BSN programs were designed to have a significant number of required practice experiences that promote integration of baccalaureate learning outcomes and prepare the graduate for professional nursing practice. Multiple opportunities are provided for the student to engage in targeted experiences focused on refining their skills to manage care in the clinical setting as part of an inter-professional team. Other targeted experiences assist the student to develop proficiency in evidence-based practice, management, providing care across the lifespan and across the continuum of care, applying communication strategies to client and interprofessional interactions, and acquiring the professional identity of a BSN-prepared nurse. Our students come to the program with a variety of personal and professional experiences and they work in a wide-array of settings and specialties. As such, the faculty and Academic Coaches work with them to identify opportunities that will achieve the program outcomes by building on the student's experiences and available opportunities. Being flexible and creative are hallmarks of our Coaches and faculty--and our students routinely express their appreciation for that flexibility and personal assistance. On a regular basis we receive feedback from nurse leaders in the health care facilities in which our RN-to-BSN students practice. These nurse leaders specifically note that our graduates acquire new competencies through our program, apply their new knowledge in their practice, and demonstrate the expected professional role and values of a BSN-prepared registered nurse. Feedback of this sort reinforces our belief that there is not a single "best way" to assure students have the sorts of robust practice experiences necessary to create new levels of practice. Clarity of intent combined with flexibility are ultimately what guide our students' clinical experiences wherever they may be. Thanks for asking. Bet

Hello Beth - thank you so much for your posts ,and replies to the questions that have been asked in response. I find the last three sentences of this reply to be particularly telling and agree that our success in educating nurses 'the way we've always done it' is our greatest challenge' to overcome! You are so right - new methods of delivering nursing education do need the support of so many people - both on and off campus - as you have outlined in your presentation and posts. Thank you.

Thanks, Jean. I have confidence that working together and being willing to ask hard questions about what we do now and whether we need to do the same things in the future will result in the sort of educational innovations needed to reach the goals we see in the IOM Future of Nursing Report. As the saying goes, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results." As a profession that advocates for all healthcare providers to question the rituals and traditions of our professions in order to assure patients and communities maximize their outcomes through access to evidence-based care, we can't be afraid to apply the same standard to our own educational system. With care that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, we must not be afraid to move forward....together. Beth