May 17, 2017 | NLN CEO Update on NLN CNEA Accreditation

It’s on the horizon, colleagues, I can see it from here – I am referring to Memorial Day, May 29, and the unofficial start to summer. Since this will be my last Member Update before the holiday, I want to reach out to our members and students who were, or continue to be, members of the US Armed Services and to those of you who care for veterans. Thank you for your service and for your contributions to the men and women in uniform you care for.

With the coming of Memorial Day, it’s a good time to mention Advancing Care Excellence for Veterans (ACE.V), the free resources we – the NLN – offer to teach the care of veterans through innovations in nursing education. ACE.V offers realistic unfolding cases, innovative teaching strategies, and robust simulated experiences for nursing students, all created with our core values in mind – caring, diversity, integrity, and excellence. ACE.V resonates with our commitment to excellence in developing faculty to meet the educational challenges of caring for our heroes, who were once in uniform serving and protecting our country.

The NLN commitment to our core values and to nursing education excellence is also manifest in our accreditation division – the National League for Nursing Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation (NLN CNEA). The NLN has a 79-year history in accreditation. However, we recently found it important to emphasize and highlight our value-based approach. Since CNEA is very new, I like to take the opportunity from time to time to fill you in on the strategic steps the NLN CNEA is taking to provide support to programs that are pursuing NLN accreditation.

The NLN CNEA Board of Commissioners acted in February to accredit the first three nursing programs. And a number of programs have been pre-accredited. As you peruse the lists of already accredited and pre-accredited programs, you will notice immediately that they represent nursing education programs from across the country and across the academic spectrum – PN/VN, diploma (RN), associate, baccalaureate, master’s degree, and clinical doctorate. All are nursing programs that sought value-based accreditation based on the NLN core values.

We are always looking for ways to help programs prepare for accreditation. For example, the NLN CNEA will soon be making available accreditation process navigators who will be assigned, at your request, to provide peer support and guide your program through the preparations necessary to prepare for the accreditation process. Watch for more information in September 2017.

In addition, NLN CNEA is offering a series of workshops this year to help programs prepare as follows:

• August 24 in Washington, DC, with Dr. Judith Halstead: Writing Your Program’s Self-Study: Process and Outcomes
• NLN Summit 2017 preconference in San Diego, CA, with Dr. Laurie Peters: The ABCs of Developing Program Systematic Evaluation Plans for NLN CNEA Accreditation
• NLN Summit 2017 preconference San Diego, CA, with Dr. Judith Halstead: Preparing Your Program for NLN CNEA Accreditation: Beginning the Journey
• October 27 in Portland, ME, with Dr. Betsy Frank: Preparing Your Program for NLN CNEA Accreditation: Beginning the Journey

In August and September, NLN CNEA will also offer a series of webinars that focus in depth on each of the five NLN CNEA Accreditation Standards. For all of this progress – and most importantly, for the consistent adherence of the NLN CNEA to the NLN core values – I must acknowledge with thanks executive director Dr. Judith Halstead and the 15 members of the NLN CNEA Board of Commissioners, who represent nursing education, practice, and the public.

In our advanced age – after all, the NLN was founded as the first nursing organization in the country in 1893 – it is exciting to come up with something new and good for our schools of nursing, both nationally and globally. I could not be more proud of our new accreditation division – the NLN CNEA.

And a final reminder about something important that happens each year at the end of May. May 31 marks the end of the early-bird period for the NLN Education Summit, coming up September 14-16 in San Diego. Act now for the best rates for registration, with special opportunities for schools that send multiple faculty to our amazing Summit. Our theme this year is “Our Community of Colleagues.”

Be one of us – be our colleague at the Summit. And help recognize an amazing colleague by nominating someone (through June 5) for one of three prestigious NLN awards to be presented in San Diego at the NLN Education Summit Honors Convocation. The Awards Committee would like to hear from you. And, of course, take the time now to vote in the NLN election if you have not already done so. By the way, the links in this paragraph are there to make it easy for you to get things done that will make a difference for our nursing education community.

Enjoy the start of summer, colleagues. This is the best time to be a nurse. Our foundation is built on partnerships, courage, and caring. We are truly a “Community of Colleagues.” And again, best wishes for Memorial Day.

Congrats our Board Member Teresa Shellenbarger for being recognized as Distinguished University Professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania Learn more. Last chance to apply for the NLN Nursing Education Scholarship Apply Today. Husband and wife earn nursing degrees at the same time Read more. Earn up to 20 CEUs at the most important conference for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education, Register Today.

Next Issue of the NLN Member Update: Wednesday, June 14, 2017. View previous issues of NLN Member Update »