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Committee on Academic Programs
Academic Program Review Committee
Spring Semester, 2006
Report on the Self-Study of the ByrdineF.LewisSchool of Nursing (BFLSON),
College of Health and Human Sciences.
Margo A. Brinton (Biology), W. Crawford Elliott, Subcommittee Chair (Geosciences), Valerie A. Miller (Mathematics & Statistics), Edward E. Rigdon (Marketing)
Approved by APRC May 9, 2006
Approved by CAP May 16, 2006
Program Profile
Faculty
During the review period (academic years 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05), the number of tenured or tenure-track (T/TT) faculty ranged from 14 to 16 while the number of non tenure-track (NTT) faculty ranged from 14 to 18. The recent expansion of the faculty is tied directly to the accelerated track BS program. Over the review period, all faculty have been female, while the number of minority full-time faculty has increased from 2 in 2002-03 to 4 in 2004-05. The BFLSON employs an average of 20 part-time instructors (PTIs) in Fall and Spring terms (and an average of 13 in summer) who teach the clinical rotations that are a part of some BFLSON courses and overseen by FT faculty.
In the latest academic year, of the T/TT faculty, 4 (25% of all T/TT) have the rank of professor, 9 (56%) have the rank of associate professor (8 with tenure) and 3 (19%) have the rank of assistant professor. Of the non tenure-track faculty members, 2 have the rank of clinical associate professor, 9 have the rank of clinical assistant professor, while 5 are clinical instructors and 2 are “academic professionals.”
Four tenured faculty members have substantial administrative roles: the Dean of the College of Health Sciences; Director of the School; and the Associate Directors of the undergraduate and graduate programs.
Staff
The BFLSON staff consists of 1 business manager and 8 other staff who support the faculty. Student assistants provide additional support. No other information about staff was provided.
Average Credit Hour Production by Level and Faculty Type
Credit hour production is summarized in the table below. In clinical courses, a course administrator is assisted by a number of PTIs (as noted above), but the credit hour totals reported here attribute all credit hours from such courses to the “course administrator,” a full-time faculty member. The self-study does not specify the tenure status of the various clinical course administrators.
Average Credit Hour Generation (2002-03 to 2004-05, Ranges in parentheses)
Faculty Type / Undergrad Core / Undergrad Lower Division / Undergrad Upper Division / GraduateTenured / Tenure-Track / 1,181
(973-1,354) / 736
(676-828) / 721
(192-1,214) / 1,928
(1,854-1,972)
Non tenure-track / 957
(836-1,095) / 1,695
(1,571-1,844) / 2,639
(2,497-2,861) / 890
(519-1,217)
Total / 2,138
(2,052-2,293) / 2,431
(2,246-2,672) / 3,359
(2,689-3,772) / 2,818
(2,372-3,176)
Scholarly and Creative Productivity and External Funding
During the three-year review period, the BFLSON faculty published 51 refereed publications, published 22 “scholarly works” (books, book chapters, monographs), and made 151 conference presentations, and had 49 other publications. All but 2 of the refereed publications were produced by the tenured / tenure-track faculty (non tenure-track faculty members were not expected to publish until the last year of the review period). The three year total of 49 (51 – 2 = 49) refereed publications divided by the average number of T/TT faculty (15) yields an average of 1.08 refereed publications per T/TT faculty member per year. However, the scholarly publication rate is uneven across the faculty. Of the 15 current T/TT faculty members, only 1 faculty member averaged 1 or more refereed publications per year over the self-study period. Nine of the 15 current T/TT faculty (60%) had at least one refereed publication during this three year period.
During the self-study period, this faculty group has been successful in obtaining grant funds from external (National and State) and internal sources (BOR and GSU). The BFLSON T/TT faculty members were awarded average annual support of $4,291,930 in external support and $207,498 in internal support (Table B-2 p.6). The median external support is $40,000. This group has ambitious goals for future funding levels. While eleven of the 15 T/TT faculty members (73%) were awarded external and/or internal financial support during the study period. the amounts of the grants vary widely. The range of support awarded to individual faculty was very large (< $10,000 to more than $2,400,000).
Faculty Service
BFLSON faculty members provide extensive service, to the school, the college, the university and the community. Faculty serve on an average of 2 BFLSON committees each, serve in the Faculty Senate and on college committees, and serve in professional organizations and boards in nursing. BFLSON faculty members also serve in their professional capacity through volunteer clinical practice and through the BFLSON Health and Wellness Collaborative.
Degree Programs
The BFLSON offers B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. programs. Undergraduate programs include both the regular B.S. degree program and an accelerated track B.S. degree program. The MS program offers five specialty tracks—adult health clinical nurse specialist [AHN CNS—12% of majors and 7% of graduates], women’s health nurse practitioner / clinical nurse specialist [WHNP CNS—18% and 24%], pediatric nurse practitioner / clinical nurse specialist [PNP CNS—52% and 54%], psychiatric mental health / clinical nurse specialist [PMH CNS—7% and 5%], and family nurse practitioner [FNP—12% and 11%]. The BFLSON also offer certificate programs which have low enrollments.
Student Numbers by Degree Programs
At the undergraduate level, the number of majors has increased from 240 in academic year 2002-03 to 294 (an increase of 23% over 2 years) in 2004-05, reflecting the launch of the accelerated track BS program. The number of BS majors does not include pre-nursing majors. At the Masters level, the number of enrolled students has also grown rapidly, from 176 in 2002-03 to 246 (an increase of 40%) in 2004-05. At the Ph.D. level, the number of majors has been stable, averaging 27.6 students.
Average Number of Degrees Awarded Per Year
The average number of degrees awarded per year during the review period was: B.S. 86, M.S. 51, Ph.D. 3. The average number of graduates per year from all certificate programs combined was less than 1.
Quality of Students by Degree Program
The BFLSON requires undergraduate applicants to take the Nursing Entrance Test while the peer schools do not require standardized tests for admission. BFLSON also does not report average GPA for undergraduate admissions, although it notes that applicants to the regular track B.S. degree program must have a 2.5 GPA, while admission to the accelerated track requires a 2.8 GPA. However, the progress which BFLSON has made in raising NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination)first-time pass rates from 82 to 91% during the self study period suggests that the admitted undergraduate students have the necessary background and skills entering the program and they are performing very well on the national exam.
During the review period, the admissions criteria for the M.S. degree program also did not include any standardized test. Admissions requirements included a minimum GPA of 2.75. Applicants without a bachelors degree in Nursing must have a 3.0 GPA. The BFLSON reports that the average GPA for admitted students is substantially higher than the minimum, but is substantially lower than the average GPA of students admitted to the one peer institution that reported this information.
For the Ph.D. degree program, the average GPA of its admitted students was 3.7 during the review period, which matches the average GPA reported by the one peer institution providing this information. A comparison of GRE scores for students admitted to the BFLSON Ph.D. degree program with those reported by a peer institution and those reported by ETS for all Nursing GRE test takers (see table below) shows that Verbal scores for BFLSON Ph.D. students compare favorably, while Quantitative scores lag substantially. Total GRE scores for BFLSON Ph.D. students roughly match the overall average for Nursing GRE test-takers, but trail the average at the peer institution. The fraction of nursing GRE test-takers entering Ph.D. degree programs is not available [though it is speculated that most of these GRE test takers are entering M.S. degree programs.]
GRE Verbal / GRE Quantitative / GRE TotalBFLSON Ph.D. Admissions / 493 / 471 / 965
Peer Institution Ph.D. Admissions / 505 / 510 / 1015
All Nursing GRE Test-Takers / 454 / 519 / 973
Assessment
Quality of Instruction, Research and Service
Instruction. Quality of instruction was assessed primarily on the basis of both student performance and faculty skill and competence. The unit was commended recently on its work on the development and assessment of learning outcomes at all levels.
The instruction of undergraduates leading to the B.S. degree appears to be excellent as shown by the increased first-time pass rate of the NCLEX during the study period, and relatively high levels of student satisfaction on OIR surveys. The attainment of learning objectives in the areas of critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, respect for diverse populations, legal/ethical concerns, and knowledge of the practice of nursing all appear well grounded and sound. Most (if not all) learning objectives are being achieved at the undergraduate level. Another measure of instruction quality is that this unit is turning away sizeable numbers of qualified students who wish to enter this program. Graduates perform well on certification exams for post-graduate nursing specialties (>90% pass on the first attempt). A large fraction (unspecified) find employment in their area of specialization.
The instructional quality of the M.S. degree program is high as evidenced by the success of graduates in obtaining employment and certification in advanced nursing practice areas. It could not be determined how long most students take to complete this program or what the graduation rates are. The majority of the M.S. degree students attend part time but must maintain continuous enrollment. According to the outside reviewers and student surveys, students are satisfied overall with the M.S. degree programs. However, the students note that sometimes instructors are not prepared for class and that some courses are not always challenging. Some modifications were made to the M.S. degree curriculum in 2005 but are not described. (BFLSON responded on 5/6/06 that the average time for M.S. degree students to complete the degree requirements was three years. Two courses on scholarly inquiry were replaced by a course on advanced practice nursing.)
At the Ph.D. level, concerns about instructional quality arise from student feedback (e.g. little career guidance or advice on funding opportunities and publication of papers), from low graduation rates (3 per year out of 27 students during the self-study period), and from learning outcomes that are not being met (pursuit of dissertation grants by students and publication of abstracts and papers by students). While BFLSON notes that relevant new knowledge is created, the Self-Study does not document clearly or definitively that original research is being conducted by PhD students in the BFLSON. The number of required credit hours (three credit hours) devoted to dissertation research seems low. The GRE scores of the admitted students are generally low for Ph.D. programs especially in the quantitative measure. Thirteen of the tenure track faculty members currently have graduate status and only graduate faculty can now chair dissertation committees. The low graduation rate implies long residence times in the Ph.D. program which raises questions about the timeliness of the scholarship generated by students and the adequacy of the mentoring of these students by graduate faculty. It is stated that of those Ph.D. degree graduates that the BFLSON was able to track, most are employed in academic institutions (about 60% of these graduates work in Georgia). BFLSON provided additional data (5/6/06) stating that of the total 88 graduates 57 have been tracked by the BFLSON. Forty nine of these 57 graduates hold faculty positions in GA but only 9 of the 57 are known to be active in research.
This BFLSON faculty is described by the outside reviewers as highly qualified to deliver instruction for both bachelor degree programs and in advanced nursing tracks in the graduate program. In particular, the non tenure-track faculty members are described as being strong in clinical nursing backgrounds. The unit is proposing to add writing intensive courses to the graduate and undergraduate curricula and distance learning courses for the Ph.D. students.
Research. Research is assessed at the unit scale primarily on faculty publication rate, acquisition of external and internal funding, and scholarly productivity of Ph.D. students. The annual publication rate for tenured-tenure track faculty members is about 1 paper per year but productivity is uneven among TT faculty members. The publication rates for most of the faculty members are low relative to faculty in other Ph.D. level departments at GSU. Relative to 1993, the rate of scholarly publications has not improved appreciably (1.1 papers per faculty per year in 1993 per Appendix B, Self-Evaluation Report, p. 21). Given the previously noted amounts of funding from internal and external sources, it is not always clear how these funds support research in this unit. For example, the extent to which graduate students are supported by these grants is not specified It appears that the faculty has not yet built a strong research culture. Although a consultant has worked with faculty for the past two years to improve publication and funding rates, only modest progress has been made. Recently, five new tenure track faculty members with research potential have been hired.
Service. The unit faculty members participate in service activities at professional, community, university, college, and departmental levels. The overall amount of service undertaken by BFLSON faculty members is commendable. The number of faculty members reviewing proposals for federal funding agencies is low for a Ph.D. granting unit of this size in the health science field. Memberships on national funding panels were not noted during this self-study period.
Centrality
The BFLSON is closely aligned with the GSU mission and goal “to fulfill the expectations of the citizens of Georgia by providing undergraduate and graduate programs of the highest quality in health and human sciences” (Page 1 of the 2005-2010 Strategic Plan). The BFLSON maintains a visible presence in the community, providing service to both GSU and larger communities, and produces employable graduates at the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. levels. The majority of graduates accept nursing positions in the state of Georgia.
Viability of Programs
The undergraduate program is very viable. There continues to be a shortage of nurses in the US and Georgia, which has helped to increase the number of qualified students applying to the BFLSON undergraduate program. The accelerated nursing degree track has further increased this number. Even though stricter requirements for admission and progression to graduation (there are no longer any part time students) have been introduced, about 200 qualified applicants are turned away each year even though the number of students accepted has increased. The graduation rate from the undergraduate programs is high. The size of the faculty, the high cost of hiring part time clinical instructors for the undergraduate clinical courses and the sizes of the current laboratory and classrooms restrict further growth of this program.
The M.S. degree program is also viable and addresses the national shortage of advanced practice nurses. Even though admissions requirements were made more stringent, applications and enrollment in the M.S. degree program increased significantly during the review period. Starting Fall 2004, the GRE was required for admission to this program. Two previous M.S. concentrations with low enrollment were eliminated, but enrollment is still low in two of the five current specialty M.S. program areas. Because of need, one of these low-enrollment specialties will be continued but will only be offered every other year. The other is being modified to try to enhance enrollment. The five areas were chosen based on need and provide advance practice nurses that can function both in primary and acute care settings.
The downsized Ph.D. degree program continues to attract students. The curriculum of the Ph.D. program was reviewed and modified in 1999 and again in 2005. The focus of the program was changed from community, family and education to health promotion and vulnerable populations to provide more appropriate areas for nursing research. A number of concerns raised about this Ph.D. program during the previous program review have been addressed. However, issues relating to the quality of this program still exist as noted above.
Strategic Focus (Comparative Advantage)
The self-study provides evidence, and the external reviewers concur with the assessment, that the BFLSON is a unique, nationally recognized program contributing directly and significantly to the mission of the university. The BFLSON supports the goals and missions of the university’s urban setting in a variety of ways. BFLSON attracts a diverse student body in terms of race/ethnicity/national origin, social class, age, gender, and ability relative to benchmark schools. BFLSON contributes positively to the health and welfare of the city of Atlanta and the State of Georgia by providing high quality graduates for bachelor-level and advanced practice of nursing. BFLSON provides service to the urban Atlanta community. The accelerated BS program is a success.