AACN APPOINTS STEERING COMMITTEE
TO GUIDE
NEW ACCREDITATION EFFORT
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 13, 1997 -- The
Executive Committee of the American Association of Colleges
of Nursing (AACN) has announced the appointment of a steering
committee of national leaders to launch planning for a new
alliance of multiple organizations to accredit nursing higher
education programs.
As part of its planning, the committee will
identify the mission and goals of the entity that AACN will
establish to accredit baccalaureate and graduate-degree
nursing programs beginning approximately mid-1998.
At their October 1996 semiannual meeting
in Washington, D.C., AACN members overwhelmingly approved
a proposal for AACN to take the lead role in creating an
alliance for accreditation and in bringing other relevant
groups to the new organization. In addition, members endorsed
the proposal's call for AACN to create a new entity that
would have the sole purpose of providing accreditation services
to bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education programs.
"With these actions, educators affirmed
the vital need to bring uniformity and a more streamlined
and coordinated approach to accrediting baccalaureate and
graduate nursing programs and to do so by putting into place
common standards, common data sets, and a common process,"
says AACN President Carole A. Anderson, PhD, RN, FAAN. "Bringing
that vision into reality is greatly enhanced by this steering
committee that gathers the richness of talent, experience,
and perspective of widely respected leaders in nursing,
health care, and higher education."
The steering committee is chaired by Linda
K. Amos, EdD, RN, FAAN, dean and professor of the College
of Nursing at the University of Utah and past chair of the
AACN Task Force on Nursing Accreditation. "An acclaimed
consultant on nursing education and past president of AACN,
Dr. Amos not only has broad expertise in the concerns that
have created the need for an accreditation alliance, but
has established an extensive track record of success in
leading and directing health policy groups through delicate
and complex issues," Dr. Anderson says.
Steering committee members include:
Jean E. Bartels, PhD, RN -- chair,
Division of Nursing, Alverno College. An advocate for the
concerns and interests of undergraduate programs, Dr. Bartels
has served as consultant to numerous schools of nursing
on program and student evaluation using both process and
outcome measures. She also currently serves as a member
of the AACN Board of Directors.
Lynda J. Davidson, PhD, RN -- assistant
professor and assistant dean, School of Nursing, University
of Pittsburgh. A nationally recognized member of the American
Association of Critical-Care Nurses, Dr. Davidson has extensive
experience in evaluation and review of nursing higher education
programs and in integrating the roles of nurses into acute-care
settings.
Gary L. Filerman, PhD -- Most recently
associate director of the Pew Health Professions Commission,
Dr. Filerman is a noted health care policy authority whose
expertise ranges from the evolving roles of health care
providers to the issues facing higher education in this
era of cost-containment and productivity assessments. He
has been central in the development of several major reports
by the Pew commission related to regulation of the health
care workforce and to needed reforms in the education of
health care professionals.
Barbara Russell Kelley, EdD, RN, CPNP
-- assistant professor, College of Nursing, Northeastern
University. With teaching responsibilities that include
both undergraduate and graduate students, Dr. Kelly is an
established leader in nurse practitioner education and practices
as a pediatric nurse practitioner in the Harvard Community
Health Plan. Her contributions are of particular importance
as the AACN steering committee addresses the need to increase
the links between accrediting activities and nursing specialty
and certifying organizations.
Robert V. Piemonte, EdD, RN, FAAN
-- immediate-past executive director, National Student Nurses'
Association. Dr. Piemonte's broad knowledge of development
and management of nonprofit organizations includes not only
the complex issues facing nursing education, but also concerns
related to interorganizational collaboration.
Douglas L. Wood, PhD, DO -- president,
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. Wood is a nationally recognized leader in the field
of institutional and professional accreditation and, among
other appointments, has served as consultant and site visitor
to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and member
of the Subcommittee on College Accreditation Training of
the American Osteopathic Association's Committee on Colleges.
The steering committee will work on an expedited
timetable to set in place by early spring 1997 an organizational
framework that will serve as the guidepost for development
of a fully operational accreditation activity. The framework
will include mechanisms for establishing collaborative relationships
with other organizations responsible for accreditation or
review of nursing education programs and with representatives
from both nursing education and practice. Towards this goal,
the steering committee will seek input from the community
of baccalaureate and graduate nursing educators to assure
that guidance and validation are received from a wide spectrum
of individuals, organizations, and nursing specialties.
In addition, the steering committee will
identify a process for establishing the accreditation standards
by which educational programs will be reviewed. It is the
committee's expectation that the development of standards,
which will require widespread participation from the nursing
education community, will begin in late spring 1997. Training
for potential site visitors and establishment of review
procedures will follow completion of the standards development
process.
Efforts are underway to appoint a permanent
staff director for accreditation who will provide guidance
to the steering committee and to the future permanent organization's
governance structure to assure the establishment of a credible
and recognized agency.
An announcement about procedures for joining
the new accreditation alliance will be made in early spring.
The projected timetable for the first accreditation reviews
continues to be mid-1998.
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.
###
CONTACT: Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
