College of Nursing Is on Schedule for Semester Conversion in 2012

By this time next year, effective August 2012, faculty, staff and students at the majority of UC’s 14 degree-granting colleges will have several months of semester conversion under their belts, with hopefully few hiccups. At the UC Academic Health Center (AHC), three colleges—nursing, pharmacy and allied health sciences—and several graduate programs within the UC College of Medicine will undergo the conversion. All are working hard to ensure that their policies and procedures are updated to align with UC’s new semester schematic (more details of which can be found at www.uc.edu/conversion). 

For the next three weeks, faculty and administrators will give us some insight into what the conversion means to existing and potential students there.
 
Below, we ask Adrianne Lane, EdD, executive director of the undergraduate program at the College of Nursing, to discuss the process. In addition to Lane’s comments, an excellent resource to get everyone up to date with semester conversion is the Student Guide found at www.uc.edu/content/dam/uc/conversion/docs/faqs/guide.pdf

How has the College of Nursing prepared for the conversion?
"The bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program faculty here have been actively engaged in semester conversion since winter of 2009.  In winter/spring 2009 a task force envisioned a semester-based BSN curriculum incorporating the 2008 American Association of Collges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials and the newly released competencies outlined by the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN).  This newly revised and transformed BSN semester schema was approved by faculty in May 2009 and was introduced to faculty at a 2009 fall retreat. All course descriptions and learning outcomes were completed by March 2010 and in December 2010 the BSN program held a two-day off-site semester conversion retreat for the further development and leveling of the course content and core simulations for the semester-based undergraduate courses. In December 2011 the BSN faculty will again hold a two-day off-site semester conversion retreat focusing on revisioning the undergraduate clinical education model. The ongoing work of the undergraduate faculty will result in a cutting-edge semester-based BSN curriculum."  
         
Have you made any changes in anticipation of the conversion?
"New to the undergraduate curriculum will be the inclusion of simulation in all clinical courses. Patient simulations have been identified and leveled for each clinical nursing course ranging from identifying the need to call for help in the first nursing clinical to suicide risk assessment in mental health nursing to code management in the final nursing clinical. Didactic nursing courses will include e-learning and computer-based testing and a pedagogy that is student-centered and interactive."

What should students/staff/faculty know about the conversion?
"We are excited about semester conversion at the College of Nursing. We need to know that semester conversion is upon us. The switch is effective on Aug. 27, 2012, just 10 months away. Students graduating after August 2012 need to be working with their advisors to assure the timely completion of their programs."
 
To read about how semester conversion will affect the College of Allied Health Sciences, click here.

To read about how semester conversion will affect the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, click here.