From Academic Affairs
May 19th, 2023
Update on AACN Essentials and Invitation to apply for a
Free Ticket to the
Essentials Regional Meeting Sept 14 or 15, 2023
The UCLA School of Nursing can be considered a frontrunner in Essentials transformation. How do we know this?
Noteworthy examples of SON curricular transformation to align with the Essentials
Faculty are transforming the curriculum and constructing competency-based outcomes through these initiatives:
o End-of-Program Outcome Competencies were completed by faculty for BS, MECN, and BS-to-DNP programs. They’re now available on the SON Intranet.
o A new Syllabus Template that connects End-of-Program Outcome Competencies with course competencies, assignments, featured concepts and spheres of care is in development. We just demoed it with the APRN faculty this week, talked about it at the Essentials Taskforce meeting, and are making adjustments based on feedback.
o End-of-life care based on the ELNEC curriculum is being integrated into pre-licensure and APRN courses, addressing known gaps.
o Population Health, another known gap, will get a boost when Susan Swider, a population health expert, joins the faculty Essentials workshop on June 16th. She will work with us over the next few months.
o Prelicensure Pre-requisites are in review. Led by Student Affairs, Academic Programs, the Curriculum Committee, and the Essentials Taskforce, we are seeking a small group of faculty to address the ripple of effects touched off by the faculty vote to change Growth and Development and Nutrition courses to pre-reqs for MECN students. Please volunteer by emailing me.
2. Gerry Altmiller told us we are ahead of dozens of schools across the country where she consults. Our academic-practice partnership puts us ahead of other schools that lack a strong clinical connection.
3. We are noticed for our attention to addressing practice readiness as an important outcome competency. The AACN highlighted our progress, as they do other schools (see Textbox 1).
4. Finally, we are on the map for curricular leadership around the Essentials. The UCLA SON was selected to host a regional Essentials meeting at the Luskin Conference Center in September.
What’s next?
Plan on three things.
The June 16th online Essentials workshop with Gerry Altmiller and Susan Swider. RSVP here.
A new syllabus template. It’s a stretch goal to have this in place by fall quarter, but the Taskforce is working toward that. We’ll keep you posted.
The AACN Essentials Regional workshop, a one-day conference held at the Luskin. You can select to attend either Th Sept 14th OR Fri Sept 15th. Registration is capped at 160 people, with a $299 fee for AACN members. Dean Zhan will support registration for 10 faculty attendees. Please email me by Wednesday 5/24 to request free registration.
Our timeline for the Essentials full implementation has us on track. We will complete the BS, then MECN, and move to the BS-to-DNP program curricular transformation in 2023-24 together as faculty. After that, we will package the changes for consideration by UCLA faculty governance committees.
Congratulations on a year of progress toward our shared goal of curricular transformation. There’s more to come.
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Lauren Clark
Professor and Shapiro Family Endowed Chair in Developmental Disability Studies
Associate Dean, Academic Programs
Office: (310) 267-5923
Mobile: (801) 503-4755
nursing.ucla.edu