Title of Effective Practice: - California Postsecondary Education ...

Direct Connection to Policy Area 6 of The Illinois Commitment
Evaluation and Improvement of Internal Communication Processes
St. Francis Medical Center College of Nursing
What issue or need is addressed by the effective practice?
This issue is related to academic advisement, admissions, course scheduling and registration.
Description of the effective practice:
This practice builds upon work already completed in a previous strategic planning subcommittee that evaluated
processes involved in student services. It analyzes the processes surrounding academic advisement, course
scheduling, and review processes already established for admissions and registration. The project looks for gaps
and duplication to streamline processes and improve communication among College faculty, staff, and students.
It establishes a consistent mechanism for communicating change and improves the processes related to student
services. This project is the starting point to evaluate all student-related processes and communication of
changes in process.
How does this practice achieve sustainability?
Evaluating this practice provided faculty and staff with a process to evaluate all communication within the
College system. A group of faculty and staff met usually on a monthly basis to identify the processes of
communication and the need for change for consistency. At times there were overlapping areas and at other
times there were gaps that needed to be addressed. At the end of approximately a 2 year project, the faculty and
staff looked at organizational processes from academic advisement, admissions, course scheduling and
registration. Administration and staff, as well as students, identified a need for clarification and improvement in
the registration process. We have improved some with this process, but we continue to have some problems with
the registration process. Academic advisement, admissions, and course scheduling were also reviewed. We
looked at consistency with each area and between the BSN and MSN programs. With clarification of these
areas, we felt that faculty could be more consistent in what was being said to students; we did not have cross
over, which took extra time and frustration, and we identified what was feasible for each of the areas. This
project helped to increase organization, especially with an increase in numbers of students, and all information
on processes was included in written documents. It also decreased duplication and wasted time, which leads to
decrease cost.
What are the results/measurable outcomes?
Faculty and staff, who worked with this project to its completion, created up to date handbook for academic
advisors; submitted suggestions to streamline processes for: course enrollment, inquiry to admission, inquiry
and recruitment, record purging, BSN application process, MSN application process, new student registration,
and BSN progression; and use of SBAR to streamline communication regarding changes (this is still an area that
will be focused on).
Contact Information
Name: Mary C. Shoemaker
Email: mary.c.shoemaker@osfhealthcare.org
Phone: (309) 655-2070
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