Nursing Education & Evaluation of Partnerships, Relationships with External Agencies and Student Support Services
Evaluation of Partnerships and Relationships with External Agencies in Nursing Education, Evaluating Student Support Services In Nursing Education, Outcome Evaluation In Nursing Education.
Evaluation of Partnerships and Relationships with External Agencies in Nursing Education
Program effectiveness is influenced by the relationship of the nursing program with outside agencies. For example, partnerships and collaborative arrangements with health care agencies are essential to providing needed educational experiences for students. One method of facilitating these relationships is establishing an advisory board that can provide a direct communication link with these important stakeholders.
The composition of the advisory board should be evaluated to determine that its membership is appropriate. The purpose and functions of the advisory board should be communicated to members and reviewed periodically for clarity.
The effectiveness of the board’s function can be determined by surveying board members and nursing faculty regarding their perception of the board’s effectiveness in fulfilling its purpose.
Many nursing programs have agreements with other educational institutions that provide mobility pathways for students to complete upper-level degrees. An articulation agreement may define special admissions policies and the type of transfer credits that will be accepted between a community college and a university.
For example, an articulation agreement may involve the admission of students in an associate degree program to a baccalaureate degree program while they are enrolled in the associate degree program. The effectiveness of these articulation agreements and mobility plans can be evaluated by having both institutions review the transfer admission criteria for appropriateness.
The nursing program accepting students should conduct a periodic audit of the transcript evaluation process to ensure that transcripts are being accurately evaluated. The final test of the effectiveness of an articulation agreement is an examination of enrollment and various outcomes.
Does the agreement support enrollment goals? Are students in the mobility program successful? Comparison of progression, retention, and completion rates of the students in the mobility program with those of students in a more traditional program will provide baseline data from which to determine the effectiveness of the articulation program.
Evaluating Student Support Services in Nursing Education
The evaluation plan also includes elements of evaluating student support services prior to admission, while matriculating, and after graduation. If the program’s relationship with prospective students is not satisfactory, students will be discouraged from pursuing admission. A positive relationship with prospective students begins when students receive current and accurate information about the program.
Because of the cost of higher education, prospective students need accurate information about financial aid. Transcript evaluation needs to be accurate and performed in a timely manner for all transfer students. New student registration should be run efficiently and provide a welcoming atmosphere.
The admission and registration process should be efficiently in as little time and hassle as possible. Universities may lose students if there is frustration because of being sent from one place or person to another to get admitted and enrolled. After students are admitted and registered, they will need orientation to the nursing program.
Orientation should provide information about nursing program policies, especially requirements for admission into clinical courses and academic progression policies. Activities at program completion may influence the satisfaction of students and their ongoing relationship as alumni, as well as success in achieving terminal outcomes.
The nursing school may offer special workshops in preparing students for licensure examinations. Career services may provide assistance in résumé preparation and job searches. Academic advising is an important factor in program effectiveness and influences student success from program entry through completion.
Some institutions use staff-level student advisers to assist students with registration and ongoing advisement, whereas others assign students to faculty advisers. Programs to educate faculty in effective advising should be evaluated for their utility. Further analysis of advising effectiveness can be determined by surveying students regarding their level of satisfaction with advising.
As a component of the advising system, academic advising records are created when a student enters the program. These records should provide a thorough and objective record of student advice. An audit of student files may be done to determine that files are set up correctly and maintained accurately through program completion.
Other aspects of the immediate environment that influence program success include housing, health services, student academic support services, business office and registrar, and co-curricular activities. One method of evaluating these functions is through student satisfaction surveys.
One survey commonly used to assess the engagement of students in support services and activities on campus is the National Survey of Student Engagement (Indiana University School of Education Center for Postsecondary Research, 2014).
This survey examines student engagement in effective educational practices by measuring the amount of time students spend on educationally related activities and how institutions organize the curriculum and on-campus activities to encourage student participation in campus activities. Results are provided at an institutional level, and comparisons are made with national norms.
Outcome Evaluation In Nursing Education
The purpose of outcome evaluation is to determine how well the program has achieved the expected outcomes. This step of the evaluation plan may be integrated into the final semester courses or may be applied at exit and during alumni and employer follow-up studies. For each of the outcomes, a simple model provides a framework for assessment and evaluation.
The behavior of interest must be clearly defined and the attributes of that behavior must be delineated with benchmarks set. Faculty must then determine what measures will be used to assess the behavioral attributes with rationale for the selected measures. Finally, faculty must demonstrate how the data from such assessment and evaluation measures have been used to develop, maintain, or revise curricula.
To achieve this final objective for outcome evaluation, it must be placed within the context of overall program evaluation. Outcomes assessment in isolation will not provide adequate direction for program revision. Nevertheless, outcome evaluation is critical in that it may be the primary measure by which external stakeholders judge the merit of the program.