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Efforts are under way to push the practical nursing curriculum at Gadsden State Community College in line with nationally recognized standards. The school announced in a press release last week that faculty members were taking steps to earn accreditation for the community college’s practical nursing program for the first time.

The release said representatives from the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission would be at Gadsden State’s Calhoun, Etowah and Cherokee county campuses on Oct. 18-20 to survey every aspect of the community college’s practical nursing program.

The accreditation will be a voluntary, peer-reviewed process that will assess the quality and integrity of the program against nationally approved standards. The evaluators will consist of people in the nursing field from all across the United States.

Once the on-site surveys are complete, the commission will review the information as well as any comments from staff, students or the public submitted about the program. The accreditation process is expected to be completed by spring 2012.

Martha Lavender, dean of health sciences at Gadsden State, said earning accreditation will be an important step for the community college and students.

“Similar to institutional accreditation, specialty accreditation represents a voluntary, peer-reviewed process that publicly attests to program quality and integrity,” Lavender said. “And many of our graduates desire to further their education. Graduation from an accredited program facilitates transfer of college credits to other institutions, making their career advancement easier.”

Phyllis Waits, director of RN to BSN nursing at Jacksonville State University, agreed with Lavender that accreditation could help some students.

“It will definitely help at other community colleges,” Waits said. “Say if someone from Gadsden State wanted to move to Birmingham and enroll at Jefferson State Community College. It would make it easier to move through programs … you wouldn’t have to take certain classes over.”

Faculty at Gadsden State have been preparing to undergo the accreditation process for about two years, said Susan Tucker, nursing education program director at the community college. She said the two years was necessary for the in-depth examination that will soon take place.

“They’ll look at the faculty, staff and our student population … where they go to clinicals and what technology we offer,” Tucker said. “They’ll want to know what kinds of scores our students have and if we are preparing them effectively … and look at our strengths and areas of improvement. It’s a very difficult process.”

Graduates of the practical nursing program are eligible to take the National Council Licensure Exam for Practical Nurses. Once licensed, these graduates can practice as practical nurses in a wide variety of health care setting delivering direct care to patients across the lifespan. Gadsden State’s graduates are employed in area hospitals, physician offices, long-term care facilities, home health care agencies and public schools, Lavender said.

The practical nursing program is separate from Gadsden State’s registered nursing program, which takes more years to complete and is already accredited.

“Registered nurses are allowed to do IVs and handle more medication and more treatments because they have more education,” Lavender said.

Gadsden State typically graduates about 70 practical nursing students each year.

While there is not as desperate a shortage of nurses throughout the country as in previous years, demand is still strong, particularly in Alabama, Lavender said.

According to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, nursing is considered one of the top 40 jobs most in demand in the state.

“Every one of our graduates have been placed somewhere,” Lavender said. “That’s an indication of the demand.”

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