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CANDIDACY: GUIDE FOR PRESENTATION

Candidacy Status

A program granted Candidate Status is one that has demonstrated its potential to achieve NLNAC Accreditation. This is accomplished through an NLNAC Professional Staff review of the program’s Faculty, Curriculum, and Resources.

    
The Candidacy Presentation must include:

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Proof of State Board of Nursing approval (where appropriate)
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Proof of Governing Organization accreditation status by a NLNAC Commission approved agency
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A completed Faculty Profile Form
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Resumes/CVs for all full-time and part-time faculty teaching in the nursing program, including the nurse administrator
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Number of students: full- and part-time for each program and for each location where the program is offered
     For graduate programs, list numbers of students by track/option
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A complete curriculum outline/program plan of study
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Mini syllabus (two pages ) for each nursing course offered by the program
    Each syllabus to include:
        -  Course name
        -  Course number
        -  Credit breakdown (theory and lab and/or clinical including contact hours)
        -  Course description
        -  Course objectives
        -  Course content topical outline
        -  Course methods of evaluation
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A credit breakdown table for the entire program of study
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A listing of clinical agencies used
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A catalog
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A narrative for each of the three sections: Faculty, Curriculum, and Resources

    
What to include in the narrative sections for
Faculty, Curriculum, and Resources  

Faculty and Staff

The narrative should address:

  1. The faculty academic and experiential qualifications and maintenance of expertise (Standard 2, Criteria 2.1-2.6).

    1. Identification of faculty by program teaching responsibilities (if more than one program is involved, list by program)

    2. Identification of faculty (by location if the program is offered in more than one location)

    3. Identification of faculty engaged in teaching courses offered by distance modalities

    4. Demonstration of faculty development by delineating scholarly activities for the past two years and by discussion of faculty maintenance of expertise

    5. Discussion of the faculty-to-student ratios in theory and lab/simulation/clinical classes

    6. The work and responsibilities of the faculty other than teaching including:

      1. Advising

      2. Committee work

      3. Service

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Curriculum

The narrative should address:

  1. How the curriculum from philosophy/mission through student learning outcomes prepares students for contemporary practice (Standard 4, Criterion 4.1) including:

    1. Major program concepts tracking their use/development across the curriculum

    2. Established professional standards, guidelines, and/or competencies that are used to guide the curriculum

    3. Essential program documents

    4. Philosophy/mission

    5. Student learning outcomes

  2. How the Student Learning Outcomes are used to organize and guide the delivery of the curriculum and evaluate student progress (Standard 4, Criterion 4.3) including:

    1. Theory

    2. Lab

    3. Clinical

  3. How the curriculum design and length provides the opportunity for students to learn (Standard 4, Criterion 4.7) including:

    1. Justification for the program of study referencing state and national standards and best practices

    2. Credit breakdown differentiating theory, lab, and clinical contact hours
      (a table might be useful)

  4. Use of alternative methods of program delivery (Standard 4, Criterion 4.9) including:

    1. Justification for delivery method/s

    2. Evidence of comparability when courses are offered using more than one method of delivery

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Resources

The narrative should address:

  1. Clinical resources

    1. Appropriateness of learning opportunities (Standard 4, Criterion 4.8) demonstrating that all desired areas for learning and practice experiences identified in the curriculum are provided including:

      1. A list of major clinical agencies used

    2. Preceptors (if used) including:

      1. Identification of the criteria for selection

      2. Orientation, supervision, and evaluation processes

      3. Roles and relationships between student, and faculty, and agency

  2. Learning resources (Standard 5, Criteria 5.2 and 5.3) including:

    1. Library

      1. Access

      2. Materials available
        (The focus should be access – breath and depth rather than the number of holdings)

    2. Labs/Simulation

      1. Size, access, equipment available

        1. Discussion of time available for students to learn (class) and practice (open lab periods)

        2. Identification of the credentials, expertise, and availability of practice laboratory personnel (if applicable to your program) (Standard 2, Criterion 2.3)

    3. Computers

      1. Access

      2. Technological support for students and faculty

    4. If alternate methods of program delivery are employed, include:

      1. Availability of technological support for students and faculty, persons, equipment, and software

    5. When the program is offered at multiple locations, discuss comparability of the above identified resources across all locations

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