Date: 2009-10-06
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AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing is well on its way to meeting its "2010 Goal", Dean Lucy Marion said at her annual State of the School address.
(Media-Newswire.com) - AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing is well on its way to meeting its "2010 Goal", Dean Lucy Marion said at her annual State of the School address.
The goal, set five years ago, stated the school will be recognized for its excellence and innovation as indicated by being in the top 10 percent of Southeastern schools of nursing according to US News and World Report and in the upper 50 percent in total National Institutes of Health funding.
"We're moving there very well," Dr. Marion said at her Oct. 2 address, noting the magazine currently ranks the graduate program is in the top 12 percent.
This year the school has been active in its strategic planning process to ensure it fits with that of the institution and meets the needs of the state.
"I'm really proud of the School of Nursing and how excellent it is in its reach to expand our capacity," Dr. Marion said. "We've grown and changed our programs to be more in line with the campus and the needs of the state. We're addressing the statewide nursing faculty and leadership shortages through our doctoral programs."
The Doctor of Nursing Practice program has quickly grown; 44 students are now enrolled. It's now time to train more nurse scientists by focusing on increasing the PhD program, which now has 13 students. "That's our greatest shortage among all types of nurses," she said.
More research faculty will enhance the curriculum for other programs, as well. "We'd like to infuse research into our curriculum as much as we've infused technology," Dr. Marion said.
The five year goal of increasing total student enrollment from 440 to 600 has been met, and the goal of increasing prelicensure enrollment from 150 to 220 a year is within reach. "We're not yet there, but we're moving very rapidly to putting 200 to 220 brand new nurses into the workforce each year," Dr. Marion said.
"We're enhancing our programs through partnerships," she said, noting that many of the school's clinical services venture beyond traditional practice and into the community. "We have to learn how to work well with partners, how to give and take, develop synergy in order to have something matter more than what we could have done by ourselves."
Dr. Marion noted several milestones of the year including:
The school was restructured into two departments – the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing, chaired by Dr. Barbara Kiernan, and the Department of Physiological and Technological Nursing, chaired by Dr. Shirley Quarles.
The RN-BSN program is completing its transition to a master's level, RN-MSN program.
The school received 18 sponsored research awards for a total of $1,384,868.
Instructional hours in the Interdisciplinary Simulation Center in 2009 have already exceeded the total hours for 2008.
Dr. Marion issued new goals and challenges for the next year including:
Continue increasing student participation in faculty practice.
Increase diversity of faculty and students.
Increase faculty satisfaction using work groups and action plans.
Maintain and enhance educational program quality.
Achieve recognition in nursing research and increase and diversify extramural funding sources.