Departmental Self Review - UCLA Academic Senate

vulnerable populations and implementing a BS-to-PhD pathway that focuses on cultural competentgeriatric nursing. Both of these HRSA grants combine to increase the productivity of our nursing facultyand address the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) clarion call to augment curriculawith culturally competent concepts.Pre-licensure Programs. In the time since our last review, with state funding from GovernorSchwarzenegger’s Nurse Education Initiative of 2005, the SON has reopened the Generic Baccalaureateand established a Masters Entry Clinical Nurse program (MECN). The Baccalaureate program offers atraditional generalist program of four years of study leading to eligibility to sit for the National CouncilLicensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX). Currently 54 students have completed theirsophomore year of study, 50 students have finished their freshman year, and 56 students have beenenrolled as freshmen for Academic Year (AY) 2008-2009.The MECN program, designed for students with a baccalaureate degree in another discipline, preparesgraduates for a career in nursing. The overall goal of the MECN Program is to produce masters-preparednurse generalists with special leadership skills to function in acute care hospitals and other health caredelivery systems. This seven (7) quarter program of study leads to eligibility to sit for the NCLEXexamination for RN licensure, as well as the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) certification examinationdeveloped under the auspices of the AACN. As of September 2007, the MECN program had a total of109 students, and the first class of 52 MECN students graduated in spring and summer 2008. At the timeof the writing of this report, we have data on 44/46 of 52 students who have written the RN-NCLEX for a95.6% pass rate to date. We will forward data on the remaining 2008 MECN graduates from theCalifornia BRN as it becomes available.Post-licensure Programs. The SON continues to provide an RN-BS-MSN degree program(Bridge Program), a specialty-focused Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program and a Doctor ofPhilosophy (PhD) program. The Bridge curriculum helps RNs prepared at the associate degree ordiploma level to expand their knowledge to include community-based nursing, leadership and beginningresearch skills at the BS level and then “bridge” into one of seven MSN specialty areas.The MSN program has the largest enrollment with an average of 230 students enrolled annually.Students entering the MSN program are prepared for advanced practice nursing as nurse practitioners,clinical nurse specialists or nurse administrators with extensive coursework and clinical practice in one ofseven major areas of specialization: Acute Care, Family, Gerontology, Nursing Administration, NursingAdministration/Occupational and Environmental Health, Occupational and Environmental Health,Oncology and Pediatrics (see Appendix B [Announcement], UCLA Specialties, pages 30-31, UCLASchool of Nursing Announcement). In addition, subspecialties in Neuropsychiatric Nursing, as well as anewly approved subspecialty in Nursing of Underserved Populations are available. In 2003, the NurseMidwifery program was closed due to economic factors and low enrollment.We anticipate facing a challenge to future enrollments in our MSN specialty programs due to theestablishment of Doctor of Nursing Practice Programs (DNP) throughout California and the US. TheAACN has effectively promoted these programs as the preferred degree for specialty practice by 2015.Although the faculty did not support the development of a DNP program in 2006, it is likely that thisissue will be re-explored in the future.The Ph.D. program, which has an enrollment of 40 students and prepares students as the nextgeneration of nurse scientists, is expanding. Although the nursing shortage has been well described in themedia, an equally acute problem not widely recognized is the shortage of nursing faculty. Therefore, theUCLA SON faculty members have made recruitment to the Doctoral program a priority. To achieve thisgoal, we have explored methods to increase the flexibility of the program to accommodate a broader4