EAC's nursing program given 5 year approval

[cougarnurse]

You read it here. Congrats, Eastern Arizona! News : EAC?s nursing <br />program receives <br />five-year approval - Eastern Arizona Courier

The Arizona State Board of Nursing, the agency that assures nursing standards of practice are met and approves educational programs for nursing, recently gave a unanimous five-year approval of Eastern Arizona College’s nursing program. This is the longest term of approval allowed by the board for a school’s nursing program.

The process for granting approval of an educational nursing program is done by a curriculum review and a site visit. The board has the authority to grant, deny or give provisional status to a college’s program.

“After extensive curriculum revision and many hours of work involving our entire nursing faculty in Thatcher, Globe and Payson, we were able to bring our program to a higher level,” EAC Director of Nursing Carolyn McCormies said. “We looked at the entire program working toward a goal of cohesiveness and consistency across semesters and campuses, and we succeeded!" McCormees explained that at the meeting of the state board's Educational Advisory Committee where EAC’s curriculum submission was discussed, the comment was made that the curriculum was clear, easy to follow and excellent.

“We would like to thank our local partners: Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center, Payson Regional Medical Center and Cobre Valley Community Hospital for their continued support of our nursing program and for their contributions to excellence in nursing education,” said Dr. Phil McBride, EAC’s dean of instruction.

EAC is looking forward to the completion of its new nursing education facility, currently under construction on the southeast corner of College Avenue and Railroad Street on the college’s Thatcher campus. The nursing building is scheduled for completion next year to be occupied beginning with the Fall 2010 semester.

“We’re excited about the potential of this new facility to improve instruction and the student experience. The building will double our skills lab space and include a state-of-the-art critical care room with the ability to record students while caring for simulated patients in life-threatening conditions,” McCormies said. “This will better prepare our graduates to be competent professional nurses.”

EAC’s nursing program currently enrolls 174 students among the three campuses in Thatcher, Globe and Payson.