CLEARFIELD – Elsie Maurer, nursing program director, has received formal notification that the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center’s (CCCTC) Practical Nursing Program was recently awarded eight additional years of accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing Inc. (ACEN), formerly the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission Inc. (NLNAC).
A three-day, on-site visit by ACEN reviewers took place Jan. 23-25. During the spring cycle, ACEN surveyed 80 nursing programs throughout the United States. Only 31 percent, or 25 programs, received full-accreditation and CCCTC Practical Nursing Program is among those receiving full accreditation.
CCCTC participants in the accreditation visit included Executive Director Lois Richards, Maurer, Patricia McKnight, Cheryl Krieg, Ashley Clark, Alene Homan, Peg Barnes, Heather Williams, Jerome Mick, Holly Bressler, Molly Sheeder and Kathie Pearcy. Site visitors reviewed student clinical experience at Clearfield Hospital, Mountain Laurel Nursing Home and Ridgeview Eldercare.
ACEN Accreditation is a voluntary peer review process intended to enhance quality improvement in nursing education. Accreditation provides recognition that a nursing education program has been evaluated and periodically re-evaluated by a qualified, independent group of respected and competent peers who have found it to be meeting appropriate postsecondary and higher educational purposes in a satisfactory manner.
The ACEN accreditation program is founded on the belief that specialized accreditation contributes to the centrality of nursing for the public good and provides for the maintenance and enhancement of education quality through continuous self-assessment, planning, and improvement. Accreditation indicates to the general public and to the education community that a nursing program has clear and appropriate education objectives and is working to achieve these objectives. Emphasis is placed upon the total nursing program and its compliance with established standards and criteria in the context of its mission/philosophy as well as current and future nursing.
Currently, the practical nursing program offers full-time and part-time classes. Applications for the 14-15 full-time class will be accepted beginning in December. The next part-time class will be offered in March 2015.
