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EDUCATION STRATEGIES
Summary of California State University Nursing Alignment Meetings Academic Year 2000–2001
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The following is a summary of the four meetings held during the Fall 2000 and Spring 2001 academic year by the chairs from the 17 nursing programs in the CSU system-13 generic BS programs and 4 RN-BS completion programs. The original request for funding from the Chancellor's Office for these meetings indicated that only the generic programs would participate, however, from the beginning it was important that all programs preparing baccalaureate nursing graduates in the CSU system be involved in the discussions. Funding in the amount of $19,000 was received from the Chancellor's Office to fully fund travel, materials, meeting rooms, meals, and project coordination. Attachment A shows the expenditures and amount remaining following the final meeting in April 2001. Remaining monies will be used in support of year two activities.
Purpose of Meetings
The purpose of the meetings were to align the pre-requisite and lower division major requirements for the pre-licensure nursing major enabling a smooth transition for transfer students from within the CSU or from the California community colleges, and ultimately reduce the time to graduation. Currently pre-requisite requirements for admission to a generic BS nursing program in the CSU, while similar, are different. During this critical nursing shortage it is essential that all academically qualified students be admissable to one of the CSU programs. A denial of admission should not be due to a missing pre-requisite course. A pre-requisite for one program may be a co-requisite for another program, e.g. pharmacology is pre-requisite for CSU Sacramento and co-requisite for the other nursing programs.
During this year, the program chairs and faculty addressed the task of aligning the pre-requisites to the nursing major. This summary report includes: 1) identification of the participants; 2) a grid of the current pre-requisite requirements for the 13 generic BSN programs; 3) a recommendation for a common set of pre-requisites to clinical nursing called the Core 8; 4) discussion of the issues and potential barriers to alignment; 5) identification of tasks which are necessary to finalize implementation of the Core 8, complete the additional task of aligning the lower division major requirements, and resolve barriers to transfer, admission, and articulation; and 6) a request for Year 2 funding.
Participant CSU Programs
Bakersfield, Chico, Dominquez Hills, Fresno, Fullerton, Hayward, Humboldt, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Northridge, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Sonoma, Stanislaus (see Attachment B for copies of minutes from the four meetings for names of representatives in attendance.)
Meeting Dates and Locations
9/14/00 - Sacramento
10/13/00 - San Diego
2/21/01 - Sacramento
4/18/01 - San Diego
Current Pre-Requisite Requirements for Admission to CSU Nursing Programs
Attachment C indicates the current pre-requisite requirements for admission to the 13 generic and 4 RN-BSN completion programs.
Recommendation for a Common Core of Pre-Requisites to the CSU Nursing Major
The representatives from the CSU nursing programs agreed to require the following Core 8 as pre-requisites to the pre-licensure clinical nursing major in the CSU: anatomy with a lab, physiology with a lab, microbiology with a lab, integrated chemistry (one course), speech, English, math and critical thinking.
The following will become co-requisite requirements in all programs: nutrition, pharmacology, life span, psychology, the socio-cultural BRN requirement (usually met through GE requirements), and pathophysiology (either integrated or a separate course).
Identified Issues and/or Barriers to Alignment
The goal of aligning the pre-requisite courses for admission to a clinical nursing program was in the context of one year of pre-requisite course work before admission to the clinical program, the ability of programs to move current pre-requisites into the clinical program as co-requisites if no longer included in the Core 8, and the need for all programs to admit at the beginning of the sophomore year to clinical nursing. The following issues and potential barriers to implementation of the proposed Core 8 were raised and must be addressed:
- Pre-requisite courses to the required Core 8 imposed by the departments who offer the pre-requisite course, e.g. general biology required for anatomy and physiology. These are referred to as "hidden pre-requisites" and would increase the time to completion of the "Core 8" requirements beyond one year.
- Consideration of high school preparation to meet "hidden pre-requisites" such as general biology.
- Resistance (refusal in some cases) on the part of support departments to accommodate the changes proposed to the nursing pre-requisites, particularly from chemistry faculty on some campuses. Where will the pressure come from to require other departments to provide what nursing wants? Programs could accept courses from campuses which develop the desired course or offer a course over distance education. Loss of local campus FTES may result in cooperation.
- Concern for comparability of courses between quarter and semester unit programs and the ability to complete the core in one year. How will year round operation (summer semester) factor into completion? All campuses should have the option for year round operation. Should the CSU consider aligning all campuses on a semester schedule for ease of transfer? The quarter system is a barrier to articulation.
- System requirements for transfer from a community college must be addressed in the standardization of the pre-requisites. Currently three of the proposed Core 8 courses are not required in community college RN programs, which raises new issues for alignment and articulation. Action by the Chancellor's Office in Spring 2001 to permit on a temporary basis admission of RN-BS students to the CSU without the math and critical thinking requirement will increase access to the BSN immediately for returning RNs.
- Chemistry as a pre-requisite is the most varied between programs. A 5 unit combination inorganic, organic and biochemistry course could achieve the desired pre-requisite preparation, particularly with the requirement of at least a B in high school chemistry and pre-testing on inorganic knowledge to assess success in organic/biochemistry portion. A laboratory is not essential for organic/biochemistry.
- Apparently some community colleges are not requiring any chemistry prior to admission because of pressure to reduce total units. Chemistry is not the place to reduce units as it is foundation for a great number of courses. Raises the issue of preparing for professional nursing practice at the community college level.
- Concern there may be pressure to accept whatever the community college requires, on the other hand, agreement on a common core of pre-requisites in the CSU may influence the community college pre-requisites.
- Board of Registered Nursing requirements for licensure must be met. Anatomy and physiology with labs are expected, and microbiology with or without a lab is required. Chemistry is not stipulated in the BRN regulations, nor is psychology. Sixteen (16) semester or 24 quarter units of related social sciences are required prior to taking the licensure exam, but do not have to be taken as pre-requisites.
- Need to avoid the appearance of "dumbing" down the requirements for admission to clinical nursing (integrated chemistry rather than two courses).
- Concern whether entering freshmen will be successful with heavy science requirement in first year of college.
- Currently the majority of the nursing programs require 3-4 semesters of pre-requisite course work before admission to clinical with the majority of the nursing major concentrated at the upper division level. The proposed core would result in admission to the clinical program at the beginning of the sophomore year in order to have sufficient time to complete some essential co-requisites before certain clinical courses, e.g. life span/growth and development before pediatrics. Also nursing major courses in the sophomore year would need to be numbered as lower division courses.
- Nursing should request a waiver of critical thinking for admission and/or pre-requisite for pre-nursing students, and include in major as being done in Engineering degree programs. The present inclusion of critical thinking in the Core 8 could be replaced with a social science course.
- Programs need to be consistent and committed to the Core 8 so the mobility of the student is optimal. Flexibility or variations may increase frustration of student. While programs agree with Core 8, they may need to be "mandated" (by whom?) to not add additional requirements, e.g. nutrition as pre-requisite at San Francisco State.
- While alignment of pre-requisites is supported, programs do not feel that the major must be exactly the same. We prepare a "generalist". Even Teacher Education, which prepares for a basic role varies from campus to campus in the courses required for graduation. Pre-licensure content is already regulated by the BRN.
Focus for Year 2 Funding
- Develop an integrated chemistry course in conjunction with chemistry departments. Consideration of a "system-wide course".
- Address issue of "hidden" pre-requisites with biological sciences and chemistry.
- Standardize process and determination of equivalency for completion of the BS in nursing. Consider consistent lower division requirements and methods for validation of equivalency for courses taken in community college RN programs.
- Develop a proposal for a database to track applicants to nursing to determine prevalence of "multiple applicants" to the programs with alignment of pre-requisites.
- Develop a system for notifying applicants of availability of clinical openings in all programs. Some programs are admitting weak students, while some are turning away well-qualified students.
- Standardize supplemental admission criteria and application deadlines to impacted programs.
- Identify CAN equivalent courses for the Core 8.
- Request system-wide waiver of critical thinking for pre-nursing majors. Include critical thinking in major to be met as graduation requirement.
- Address duplication of efforts by IMPAC as evidenced in the 2001-2002 recommendations contained in IMPAC Nursing Discipline Summary Report. Specifically the recommendations to establish a core of pre-requisites to nursing for the CSU, develop an integrated chemistry course, and articulate the lower division pre-licensure courses (Recommendations #1 and #2).
Request for Funds for Academic Year 2001-2002
The CSU nursing programs are requesting funding to support a minimum of three meetings, tentatively scheduled for October 2001 (Sacramento), February 2002 (Sacramento) and April 2002 (San Diego). The expenditures for 2000-2001 were approximately $14,500 with $4,500 remaining. We are requesting $15,000 for the 2001-2002 academic year. The remaining $4,500 will also be carried over to support travel, meals, and accommodations, when appropriate, for the chairs and faculty representatives from the 17 nursing programs, and faculty from chemistry and biology as needed.
The assistance of the Chancellor's Office to facilitate access to baccalaureate nursing education in California is critical to the health of our state. The CSU nursing programs look forward to implementing the Core 8 no later than 2004 and accomplishing the tasks set forth for 2001-2002.
Prepared by Robyn Nelson, Project Coordinator
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