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CON earns highest level of accreditation

MUSC's College of Nursing has received a full 10-year accreditation without any recommendations for its baccalaureate and master’s degree programs following a thorough onsite evaluation of the school’s curriculum by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The CCNE, the nation’s top nursing school review body, awarded the College of Nursing the highest level of accreditation a nursing school can receive.
 
Earning CCNE’s full accreditation strengthens the college’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs, which in turn, aids in addressing the nursing shortage. The need for highly educated nurses is expected to increase in the coming years due to health care reform. The new law positively impacts the nursing profession by providing incentives for students to enter nursing school and also provides loan repayment opportunities for nurses to pursue graduate education. In South Carolina, the demand for nurses with baccalaureate and higher degrees is expected to intensify as health care reform is implemented and access to health care increases.
 
“This excellent accreditation report confirms MUSC’s mission of ‘fueling the nursing pipeline’ by providing more entry-level nurses, nurse practitioners, and nurse faculty,” said MUSC College of Nursing Dean Gail Stuart, Ph.D., R.N.  “It also reflects on the outstanding quality of our faculty, as educators, clinicians and researchers. As a College of Nursing, we set the bar high and, as reflected by this report, we have achieved success.”
 
According to Stuart, receiving CCNE’s full accreditation, assures students, parents and the public that the MUSC College of Nursing adheres to high-quality standards based on successful and effective educational practices.
 
“This is the best possible outcome a nursing program can receive. This accreditation assures current and prospective students that we have nationally endorsed programs of study, and validates the college’s strengths as a leader in nursing education,” said Sally Stroud, Ed.D., CON’s associate dean for academics.
 
A CON accreditation committee—including a leadership team headed by Stuart and chaired by former  faculty member Elizabeth Erkel, Ph.D., R.N.—worked on the accreditation process in 2009. Recently, CCNE began assessing clinical nursing doctorates. CCNE will evaluate CON’s new Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program this fall. Currently, there is not a nursing accrediting body for PhD programs. This particular doctoral program falls under MUSC’s accreditation awarded in 2007 from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Friday, May 14, 2010


The Catalyst Online is published weekly by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. The Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to The Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.