Committee Meetings and Minutes

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Nursing Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes

Current Status of Minutes: Final
Date	November 13, 2015
Time	8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Location	Eastview Campus-Room 8358

Members Present
No member attendance has been recorded.
Guests Present
David Von Oline-Austin State Support Learning Center

Item # 1:	Approval of Agenda
Presenter	Toni Rowin
Discussion	Toni Rowin moved to add introductions to the agenda. Approved with that one addition, N. Walters motioned and LD seconded. Agenda was approved by general consent of all members

Item # 2:	Introductions
Presenter	Toni Rowin
Discussion	Toni Rowin requested each committee member present meeting to introduce themselves and indicate the facility represented.

Item # 3:	Approval of Minutes
Presenter	Toni Rowin
Discussion	S. Marshall moved for approval of the April 2015 minutes as presented with attachments, Gail Roberts seconded. The minutes were approved by general consent of all members.

Item # 4:	Clinical Facility Updates
Presenter	Representatives from each agency
Discussion	Acute Care: Seton: T. Rowin reported that lots of new construction happening. Site visit for RN-Res program will take place this coming Monday. Seton will be hiring about 240 new grads this year with an increase for the 2015-2016 season. We have seen a definite shift in the # of RN's available for hiring in the Central Texas Area. We are very blessed to have such strong Nursing programs in the Austin area. Ms. Rowin added that one of their new VP come from the Dallas area where they mainly hire BSN nurses but she remarked that the ADN nursing in the Austin area are some of the best and strongest she has ever seen. St. David's: Planning to hire 120 nurses in January. We now have CNO's in all of our facilities. South Austin is expanding their ER department and Round Rock now has the Heart Hospital of Austin. The Children's hospital is developing and looking for more space to expand. Gail Roberts also added that the quality of the nurses coming out of ACC students and graduate are outstanding. We get very few complaints Theresa Zercher reported that St. David's Main will be getting a new 24 bed ICU, they will be needing lots of new nurses. They are having to hire more traveling nurses to staff the units. Central Texas Medical Center: New CEO started last month, Anthony Stalle. We are waiting to see what growth and changes he will be bringing to our facility. Our new Acute Care Director, is Margie Leik, who is big on education, which we are very excited about. CTMC hires a lot of ACC Grads, they just hired 15 new nurses. Pam Foster Scott and White Healthcare: No representative present at this meeting. University of Texas: No representative present at this meeting. Long Term Care: Cornerstone-Round Rock: C. Ruble-Long Term Acute Care Hospital. Cornerstone-Round Rock is not a skilled nursing or a long term care facility. Our patients are those who are still too sick to go home but not ready for just a rehabilitation hospital either. Our focus is to hire more RN's, because we have so many critical care patients within our facility. LTech compliant patients must have at least 50% ????? S. McCrary-Marshall asked if Cornerstone is still staffing LVN, C. Ruble reported that it is being very difficult with our Critical Care areas. 54 beds, 12 bed ICU. Located off of University Blvd. in Round Rock. We share a CNO with the Cornerstone Austin location. We are offering a $10,000 sign on bonus for ICU nurses. Austin Support Living Center is giving a 15% pay increase to nursing in order to stay competitive. N. Walters added that as we think about staff, that one size doesn't always fit all. Some units might be able to work and be creative with their nursing staff's schedule. There needs to be more flex while meeting patient care needs. Buckner Villa: The will be expanding with an additional 24 beds being added. We do not plan to limit the number of students we accept for clinical rotations. We will also be adding a high tech therapy center. Heritage Park: No Representation Westminster Manor: No Representation Health South: No Representation Reliant Hospital: G. Helou reported that Reliant hires lots of ACC Nurses. Most new grads want to go to hospitals, they hire RN's and LVN's. Toni Rowin asked about transition for new hires between acute cares to long term. Austin State Hospital: No Representation Austin State Supported Living Center: DO reported they are currently open with 192 residents. We love ACC Nurses, we hire both RN and LVN's including new grades. Currently they are filling a lot with agency nurses because they cannot fill the need for nurses. Pat Recek asked why we have a short supply of nurses with so many schools in the area. TR reported that many RN are going to free standing ER's and Surgical Centers. With the population growth and new hospital in the region we are having difficulty keeping staff. The hospital organizations in Austin are very competitive with regard to pay and benefits and many of the outside agencies are now paying competitive salaries. L. Dickson reported that Travis County is hiring a lot of Nurses in the jails and their pay and benefits packages is very competitive. It's about quality of life issues for our young graduates. N. Walters interjected that the twelve hour shifts are harder on the older more experienced nurses. T. Rowin reported that their hospitals are looking at different options to cover the shift that benefit the nurse and staff. Plus studies show that longer hours cause higher burn out. Shoal Creek: No representation present at this meeting. Community: Lone Star Circle of Care: No representation present at this meeting. Travis County Jail: No representation present at this meeting. Dell Valley Jail: No representation present at this meeting.

Item # 5:	College Updates
Presenter	Pat Recek
Discussion	P. Recek reported from the Texas Team Summit, that nurses should be moving forward and progressing with their education and employers must support that educational advancement. Every person on the health care team plays an important role and being a nurse requires lifelong learning. P. Recek reported that the college is looking for better ways to guide students in the educational process called a Guided Pathway. An example, a student would have easy access to obtain information with specific Health Science Advisors. Those advisors will keep in contact with those students and keeping them on the path to moving forward toward their degree. On another topic, P. Recek reported that in last year's bond proposal voters approved for a regional simulation center scheduled to open in 2019. In addition, some construction will take place at the Round Rock campus for general purpose classrooms and staffing. Which opens up rooms in the health science building for expansion of our simulation center, with moveable walls. N. Walters added that we did finish an area for simulation at EVC a few months ago. P. Recek added that ACC PT Department will have a new computer that uses the Anatamoge which allows student to break down the human body by level.

Item # 6:	Associate Degree Nursing
Presenter	Laura Dickson
Discussion	I. Program Data A. Enrollment Fall 2015=491 Current Enrollment Level I Level II Level III Level IV Mobility Total 122 103 129 109 28 491 B. Graduates Fall 2015 (Anticipated) = 109 Spring 2016 (Anticipated) = 129 Summer 2016 (Anticipated)=28 C. NCLEX Pass Rate Results RN Year: October 1-September 30 2015 =95.37% (247/259) 2014 =94.37% (201/213) 2013 =90.80% (237/261) I. Curriculum Updates: * Implementation of new 60 credit Associate Degree-Nursing * Simulation 5-8% in each clinical course. L. Dickson reported that ACC- Nursing is attempting to increase its simulation experiences. Any of the hospital educators are welcome to attend our faculty simulation day on-January 12. Please contact L. Dickson for more information II. Faculty Updates * New Department Chair-Laura J. Dickson, RN, DNP, FNP-BC * Positions Currently Posted-Level 4-Faculty, Mobility Faculty, Nurse Tutor and one PEDI Faculty. III. Other T. Rowin asked about the # of student accepted to Mobility Track. Laurie Dickson reported that the ADN Program is looking at the grant to offer military health care personal the opportunity to obtain their RN. This would allow our Mobility Track program to go. Currently we accept 30 at EVC. T. Rowin reported that Seton is still hiring ADN Graduates, but when applying they need to bring in their plan for continuing their education. But in order to promote to Level 3 and 4 RN's they must have their BSN.

Item # 7:	Vocational Nursing
Presenter	Sandra McCrary-Marshall
Discussion	Current Enrollment: COHORT Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Total By Campus EVC 31 0 18 26 75 Graduates: Fall 2013-23 EVC & 10 FBG Spring 2014-24 EVC Fall 2014-23 EVC Spring 2015-22 EVC & 5 FBG Fall 2015-26 (Anticipated) PN NLCEX Pass Rates: Year End Report 2013 (January 1, 2013-December 31, 2013) = 94.55% Year End Report 2014 (January 1, 2014-December 31, 2014) =98.28% Preliminary Report (January 1, 2015-November 5, 2015) = 100.00% Curriculum: * The program continues to implement simulation within the curriculum. Areas of content include Medical-Surgical nursing, Pediatrics and Obstetrics. Feedback from students reflects knowledge of positive learning experience. Approximate Hours of Simulation within the program Level Hours of Simulation % of Simulation I 8 12% II 16 7% III 16 7% IV 24 10% Total 64 36% * Feedback on the student evaluations of the clinical sites continues to be positive. * The program continues to expand into non acute care sites: Clinics, doctor's offices, schools, correctional facilities, and rehabilitation units, etc. * The program continues to explore articulation agreements with higher level institutions for student who wish to advance their nursing careers. The VNG program implemented new curriculum starting Fall 2015. Main objectives accomplished with new curriculum: program length is shorter course offerings maintains alignment with national standards while still allowing attainment of SLOs and program outcomes. Compliance with both the BON and the ACEN. (Accrediting Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc.) New Curriculum o 43 Semester Credits o Program length – 3 semesters o TX BON=Contact Hours: compliance with the Board of Nursing requirements for the minimum contact hours for theory and clinical in a VN program. (Theory 558, minimum clinical 840 hrs.) o Comply with the Accrediting Commission for Education in Nursing, INC (ACEN) standards that state program length must be consistent with the policies of the governing organization, state and national standards, and best practice. See attached current degree plan. (Green Sheet) NEW-3 Semester Degree Plan Changes implemented in the new revised curriculum included: * Addition Human Anatomy and pharmacology in the first two semesters with nursing courses; these courses could be taken ahead of time and included as part of the """"ranking"""" formula * Adding a differentiated test (ATI-TEAS 5) as part of """"ranking"""" for admission. * Additional Nursing Courses: Gerontology, Nutrition, and Growth and Development. 3-semesters- Considerations/Concerns 1. Faculty main concern - student retention. (Program will be very rigorous) - 2. Shorter program does allow for student to more rapidly progress to ADN or BSN program. 3. Students are out into the workforce earlier. Future Vision: * High School to LVN-In progress of developing curriculum. Target date for implementation is Fall 2016. Pat and Sandra are going to visit a school in Alb, New Mexico. The program does have a high attrition rate due to dealing the high school students. But the students that finish the program have a high pass rate for the NCLEX, over 95%. This would be early college start with students coming to us. Pat Recek asked the long term facilities if there would be any legal implication of a student under the age of 18 being in your clinical sites. G. Roberts asked about the timeline for implementation. P. Recek responded that if we go to the Board for approval in the spring, then implementation would begin the Fall 2016. * Military Articulation * Evening and weekend program Update: New Changes with ACC offering of Biology: Impact on VNG Curriculum The VNG Faculty commitment to higher education lead our current new curriculum to change once again: Major Impact: Biology requirements-Program curriculum will now require A & P I and A & P II. In addition to the Biology changes impact, the Board of Nursing has asked ACC VNG program to conduct a pilot study with decrease theory and clinical hours. We are in the process of developing this curriculum. See attached. Proposed Pilot Curriculum: 44 Semester Credits Program length – 3 semesters Clinical hours – 704 (BON requirement 840) Theory hours – 656 (BON requirement 558) Additional hours due to the A & P II requirement.

Item # 8:	Continuing Education
Presenter	Barbara Handley
Discussion	Nurse Re-Entry Update This program is designed for nurses who have been out of practice for 4 or more years and are required by the Texas Board of Nursing (BON) to complete a refresher course before their license can be reinstate. During the past academic years the three courses of the nurse re-entry program were offered each semester. A total of 67 registered nurses and 15 vocational nurses completed the 128 hours on line didactic course. Forty five nurses completed the 16 hours skills review course which is taught at the Eastview campus. Eleven nurses completed the 80 hours clinical preceptorship at various clinical sites with which ACC has agreements for student placement. The on-line curriculum has been updated to comply with changes mandated by the BON in 2014. Update on CE Offerings Our approval as a provider of continuing nursing education from the Texas Nurses Association expired September 30, 2015 and was not renewed as the result of the retirement of Elizabeth Huss the long time nurse planner. Requests from those desiring a provider are referred to Kirk White at Houston Community College.

Item # 9:	Announcements
Presenter	Any Members of the Committee
Discussion	T. Rowin asked if there was any additional information that anyone wanted or needed to share. N. Walters asked if any of the committee had staff thinking of applying to our program, please let them know about the Anatomy and Physiology changes that are upcoming. G. Roberts asked about the applicate pool for Mobility. N. Walters responded that we usually take all the applicants that apply, that is a definite area were we could increase our program. P. Recek added that ACC's Surgical Tech program is planning to switch to the new AP I and II requirement for their students to have an easy pathways for students to follow.

Item # 10:	Adjournment
Presenter	Toni Rowin
Discussion	Meeting was adjourned at 10:00.

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