Louisiana - April 2021

Page 14 • Pelican News April, May, June 2021
Excellence in Nursing Education
Demetrius J. Porche, DNS, PhD, PCC, ANEF, FACHE, FAANP, FAAN | Chair,
Louisiana Council of Administrators in Nursing Education (LaCANE)
Dean, Louisiana State University Health –
New Orleans, School of Nursing
As the international nursing community celebrates the Year of the Nurse
and Midwife, the Louisiana Council of Administrators in Nursing would like
to acknowledge the achievements of Louisiana nursing schools. Louisiana
nursing schools have a history of preparing the state’s nursing workforce while
achieving national recognition. Excellence is a journey, not an outcome, but
the achievements that characterize excellence are worthy of recognition. One
achievement is the student outcome metric of NCLEX-RN licensure pass rates.
According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Pearson/VUE
third quarter 2020 NCLEX-RN examination data, there were 158,789 individuals
who took the NCLEX-RN examination with 138,985 (87.53%) passing the NCLEX-
RN exam successfully. Out of the 55 state or territory jurisdictions that completed
the exam, there were only 17 (31%) that attained a pass rate of 90% or greater. The
third quarter Louisiana NCLEX-RN pass rate was higher than the national average
of 87.53% for a pass rate of 93.08%. In addition, for the third quarter of 2020,
Louisiana ranked 5th out of all jurisdictions in the NCLEX-RN pass rate.
The NCLEX-RN achievements are attained through the leadership, dedication,
and outstanding education provided by Louisiana nursing faculty. However,
our nursing school administrators, faculty, staff, and students accomplishments
exceed the metric for NCLEX-RN licensure pass rates. On behalf of LaCANE, I
Become an LSNA Affiliate Member
Benita N. Chatmon, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE
As an alternative to dual individual membership, LSNA developed the Affiliate
Membership that allows another professional nursing organization, that maintains
a mission and purpose harmonious with the purpose and functions of LSNA to join
LSNA. The true need is to develop a strong, collective voice for nursing; none of us
can do this alone. LSNA has the potential to unite our voices.
We hope to establish partnerships that will continue for many years supporting
advocacy, education, safe practice, and professional autonomy. The strength and
vitality of nursing rests in the hands of nurses who make a difference every day in
our communities and our active engagement in our professional organizations.
LSNA would like to congratulate the following organizations for joining as an
affiliate member:
• LACANE
• LA Emergency Nurses Association
• Sigma Theta Tau International Epsilon Nu at Large Chapter
• Southeast Louisiana Staff Development Organization
We encourage other nursing organizations to join the effort. It’s not too late,
there are various benefits to joining.
The benefits of affiliate membership:
• An affiliate may have one delegate
representing their organization at the
LSNA House of Delegates biennial
Membership Assembly
• May provide informational reports or
presentations to the LSNA Board of
Directors or Membership Assembly
within the organizational affiliate’s
expertise.
• Submission of representatives
qualified for appointment to LSNA
ad hoc groups, task forces and/or
committees
• Dissemination of information to LSNA
members via electronic or print media.
• Exhibit opportunities at the LSNA
Membership Assembly, Link to the
Legislature and other LSNA events.
• Collaboration with LSNA on
legislative issues.
• A free link to Affiliate’s website from
the LSNA website.
• LSNA member communications and
Constant Contact Alerts, sent to the
Association designee to share with
their membership.
• Publication of one educational article
in the Pelican News per year related
to your association specialty.
• Participation in the Annual Health
Policy Consortium to discuss
key issues affecting nursing and
healthcare.
• The opportunity to participate in
the nomination/selection process to
fill Louisiana State Board of Nursing
vacancies and other Boards and
Commissions vacancies.
• The opportunity to create joint
position statements co-authored by
both associations
• Promotion of the organization as an
affiliate of LSNA
• The opportunity for CNE Joint
sponsorship of LSNA CE offerings.
• Pay the LSNA member fee to attend
the Annual LINK to the Legislature
event
As a fellow association representing the welfare of nursing and
healthcare, we share a mutual interest. We are seeking your affiliation
with LSNA. Affiliate Membership allows another nursing organization,
that maintains a mission and purpose harmonious with the purpose
and functions of LSNA and is not a labor organization, to join LSNA.
would like to recognize these local, state, and national level achievements. As we
celebrate the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, it is only befitting to recognize our
nursing schools.
Fletcher Technical Community College
• Fletcher’s ASN program had a very successful ACEN accreditation virtual site
visit in September of 2020.
• Fletcher successfully initiated an LPN to ASN hybrid program in the fall of
2020.
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, School of Nursing
• BSN program awarded the Program of Merit for Health Professions
Designation by the Gerontological Society of America. They are the first and
only nursing program in the nation to receive this status.
Louisiana State University Health – New Orleans, School of Nursing
• National League for Nursing Center of Excellence
• National Student Nurses Association Stellar School Award
• The Louisiana Center for Promotion of Optimal Health Outcomes: A Joanna
Briggs Institute Center of Excellence (LA Center) – 10 Year Anniversary
• Sigma Theta Tau International, Epsilon Nu Chapter Key Award
• Initiated the Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) degree
• Dean Demetrius Porche elected to chair the Louisiana Health Works
Commission and elected to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing
(AACN) Board
• Dr. Jennifer Manning elected to the National Association of Clinical Nurse
Specialist Board
• Dr. Jennifer Martin appointed to the Professional Development Committee of
the National Collegiate Honors Council
• Dr. Leanne Fowler has been selected to participate in the inaugural AACN
Diversity Leadership Institute and elected for a second term to the Board of
Directors of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF)
• Dr. Linda Ledet appointed to serve on the Steering Committee of the APNA
Education Council.
• Dr. Marcy C. Purnell has been appointed as the Tenet Health System/Jo Ellen
Smith, BSN Chair of Nursing. She currently holds one published patent and
has three patents pending relating to her work in bioelectrodynamics. She has
served as principal investigator on seven funded research projects and as subinvestigator
on an additional six projects. She has recently published a novel
mechanism in Discovery Medicine that suggests a previously unrecognized
cascade of events that may trigger crises in sickle cell patients.
• The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Student Association has been formally
approved and recognized as a student organization in the School of Nursing
McNeese State University, College of Nursing and Health Professions
• Classes started January 18 online, but we are projected to be able to move
back into our nursing building next week after being out since August 27,
2020 due to Hurricanes Laura and Delta. We would like to thank nurses and
students from around the state who have contributed to relief efforts at
McNeese.
• Our RN to BSN program received a 1.4-million-dollar Department of Labor
grant to provide tuition support to RNs living in rural parishes seeking to
complete their BSN online.
• Dr. Ann Warner is the new interim dean beginning January 4, 2021. Our
outgoing dean, Dr. Peggy Wolfe is rejoining the graduate nursing program as
faculty.
Southern University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, College of Nursing
and Allied Health
• Dr. Sandra Brown, Dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health, was
appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards to serve as Co-Chair of the
Louisiana COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force
• Historical virtual chartering of Southern University School of Nursing (SUSON)
Alumni Association. Members of the chartering ceremony included 70 charter
members and 15 honorary chartering members
• Membership in the National Hartford Center for Gerontological Nursing
Excellence
• Enrollment of Undergraduate nursing program in Centralized Application for
Nursing Programs (NursingCAS)
• The School of Nursing’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program has
remained open throughout the pandemic without interruption of services to
participants
• Funding obtained for the purchase of a mobile health clinic to provide health
outreach services to medically underserved and vulnerable populations in
East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes, including inner-city and rural
communities within a 50-mile radius of the School of Nursing.
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• Designated an NLN Center of Excellence, Creating Environments That
Promote Pedagogical Expertise of Faculty, 2020-2024
• Nursing program designated End-of-Life Nursing Consortium (ELNEC) Hall of
Fame School
• Development of College Level Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Collaborative
Workgroups focused on student initiatives, faculty recruitment and
development, and undergraduate and graduate curricula
• UL Lafayette RN to BSN student elected President of the 60,000-member
National Student Nurses’ Association
• Dr. Ziad Ashkar, Professor in the College of Nursing and Allied Health
Professions, Director of the Louisiana Center for Health Innovation, the Dr.
Robert Rivet Endowed Chair and the Acadian Ambulance Service/BORSF
Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Health Informatics and Endowed Nursing
Professors, Drs. Deedra Harrington and Christy Lenahan, were awarded a
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grant in the amount of $271, 850