Off Campus Degree/Credential Coursework in Cooperation with the SFSU College of Extended Learning

Proposal for off campus BSN degree program:

SFSU School of Nursing Satellite at Cañada College

College: Health and Human Services

Unit:  School of Nursing

Contact Person: Beatrice Yorker, Director, School of Nursing

1. Introduction

This proposal is for a satellite Bachelor of Science in nursing program to be offered at Cañada College by San Francisco State University School of Nursing through the College of Extended Learning.  The Sequoia Health Care District has approved a minimum of 7.5 million and up to 10 million dollars in funding for the proposed satellite program.  California hospitals are currently experiencing vacancy rates of up to 15% of registered nurses and the state faces a shortfall of 30,000 RNs by 2006.  The California Sate Employment Development Department forecasts an increase in demand for 110,000 more registered nurses by 2010 to provide care for the growing and aging population and to replace retiring nurses.  Even though nursing programs in California schools are impacted, and have long waiting lists of students seeking admission, the state only has capacity to educate about 50% of the number of nurses needed by 2010.  Successful Education/Service partnerships have been developed at San Diego State University, CSU Los Angeles, and CSU Long Beach which increased the capacity of nursing education by over 1000 slots.  The collaboration with Sequoia represents a similar partnership aimed at increasing the numbers of nurses educated in the Bay Area.

This proposal has been approved for $25,000 per student from Sequoia Health Care District for producing at least 300 graduates over ten years.  There will be $650,000 in start up costs to purchase library holdings, build a state-of-the-art skills lab, and support necessary administrative costs to start up a Satellite Program.  In addition, students will pay tuition and fees through CEL.  There is no indication that funding for the Satellite Program would not continue past the ten year commitment as the nursing shortage is projected to last well beyond 2014.

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has also pledged 110 million dollars to the five-county Bay Area to address the nursing shortage and to improve the quality of nursing care.  If San Francisco State University demonstrates our ability to increase enrollment capacity with private funding, we are well positioned to obtain further funding from the Moore Foundation and from pending state and federal nursing workforce funding initiatives. 

2. Offering the SFSU Bachelor’s of Science degree in Nursing at Cañada College

Cañada College is an ideal location for a satellite nursing program for several reasons.  First, they have an established University Center that offers upper division courses leading to BS degrees in Education, Business, and Child and Adolescent Development. The University Center already features a strong SFSU presence and CSU Hayward and San Jose State University also provide upper division courses.  Second, SFSU and Canada have a track record of successful partnerships through the “Pathways” initiative.  Third, Cañada College is the preferred location for a partnership with Sequoia Healthcare District.  Cañada College has appropriate classroom space and would dedicate facilities for faculty offices, a skills lab, administrative offices, conference room, and library holdings.

The Sequoia Healthcare District approached Cañada College and San Francisco State University, offering to fund a partnership to increase the numbers of BS prepared nurses in San Mateo County.  Currently no BSN programs exist in the County. One Associate Degree in Nursing program exists at College of San Mateo (CSM). Increasing the pool of Bachelors prepared nurses in San Mateo County is a high priority as recent patient outcome studies have shown a relationship between morbidity and mortality and the educational level of the staff nurses employed in hospitals.  Furthermore, the complexity of patient care at Sequoia Hospital demands recruiting more nurses with a BSN. 

 Rationale for offering in CEL

The College of Extended Learning is an appropriate mechanism for delivering the program because this is a partnership between Sequoia Healthcare District, Cañada College, and SFSU to fund a special cohort of the BSN.  No additional FTEs would be generated, it would be self-supporting, and the infrastructure for granting academic credit is in place. The College of Extended Learning is the ongoing mechanism for delivering the pre-licensure portion of the entry level master’s program and the cohorted RN to MSN program which makes it ideal for this satellite program.  If at some future point SFSU wanted the additional FTEs generated by this program, we would re-evaluate the prospect of offering it through the general fund.

Sequoia Healthcare District specifically wants to serve students who live and work in the area who will most likely want to work as nurses at their facility upon graduation.  Another rationale for not offering this program on campus at SFSU is space constraints and limited clinical placements.  The current enrollment in the SFSU nursing program (which has increased by 30% over the past two years) is exceeding our skills lab capacity and classroom space.  We compete with 12 other nursing programs to place students in hospitals and clinics in San Francisco, Oakland, Marin, and Contra Costa Counties.  Another advantage of this off campus proposal is that Sequoia Hospital has made a commitment to ensure placement of nursing students throughout San Mateo County without jeopardizing CSM nursing student placements.

Program Quality and Program Review

The faculty of the School of Nursing are committed to ensuring that the quality of the baccalaureate nursing program offered at Cañada is the same as the quality of the SFSU main campus program.  Plans to assure quality across programs include:

· Tenure-track faculty will provide theory courses and will supervise all clinical teaching at both sites

· The same curriculum, course descriptions, objectives, and evaluation procedures will take place at both sites

· The Director of the School of Nursing and the Associate Director for Undergraduate Programs will both be funded for Non-Teaching Workload Units to provide administrative oversight of the Cañada Satellite

· Academic policies regarding student conduct, grading, progression, and grievances will be the same as for our SFSU program

· The same national and state accreditation criteria apply to this satellite program as to our SFSU program

· Faculty hiring and evaluation will be the same for both programs

The current BSN program at SFSU is accredited by the California Board of Registered Nursing and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.  A site visit to determine appropriateness of the Cañada campus for a BS in Nursing will be conducted by the California Board of Registered Nursing during Spring, 2004.

Cañada College is less than 25 miles from SFSU campus therefore WASC review is not required.

Impact of Proposed Program on Other Programs

The SFSU School of Nursing enrolls 90 BSN students each year, for a total of approximately 230 baccalaureate students.  In addition we enroll 50 entry level master’s students and 30 registered nurse master’s students each year for a total of 250 graduate students.  This program would admit 30 BSN students in the first year and 40 each subsequent year.  The potential impact on the students enrolled on the SFSU campus is not yet determined, however it is expected to be minimal as the additional students would be off site.

This satellite would increase the number of course sections offered and will fund additional faculty, lecturer, and administrative positions accordingly.  The faculty at SFSU will have to provide orientation and oversight to a larger than usual influx of new  faculty and lecturers.  Funding to provide new faculty mentoring through workshops, teaching internships, and additional orientation is provided in the proposal.

The workload of the faculty will change, particularly during the first year.  However resources will ensure that faculty will be compensated for this increase.  Faculty who teach courses at Cañada will have their appropriate work load paid through reimbursed release time through a contract with Sequoia and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.  The work of making clinical placements for students will be significantly increased, however Sequoia has agreed to provide a clinical placement coordinator and health requirements compliance coordinator for the students enrolled in the satellite program.  In addition, they will guarantee clinical placements for all Cañada Satellite nursing students.

The workload of the Admissions Committee will be increased.  There is funding to support some administrative assistance for this particular increased workload.  The workload of the Curriculum Committee will remain the same as both programs implement one nursing curriculum.  The workload of the HRT Committee will be increased for the duration of the program.  The workload of the Student Affairs Committee will be increased proportionately.  The additional faculty would contribute to the committee and advising workload.

College and Departmental Faculty Approval

The School of Nursing Faculty discussed the proposal at their September 18th , and  November 5th  faculty meetings.  The faculty voted unanimously to support offering a satellite nursing program through CEL using our curriculum and faculty at Cañada College.  The School of Nursing discussed the proposal further on March 1, 2004 to address specific resource and workload issues and the faculty agreed that they supported the proposal and it should proceed for approval by the Academic Senate and SFSU administration.

The Chairs of the College of Health and Human Services reviewed the proposal at the November 11th Council meeting. The results of that discussion were unanimous endorsement by the other Chairs and the Dean.  There were suggestions regarding the need to maintain academic integrity and to follow the CSU faculty hiring, retention, promotion, and tenure mechanisms. 

Curriculum

The existing SFSU BSN curriculum will be offered at Cañada College.  The School of Nursing is committed to assure that core theory courses will be taught by tenure track faculty or experienced lecturers.  Clinical faculty will be supervised by tenure track faculty.  The same student faculty ratio will be maintained at the Cañada Satellite.  Student faculty ratios in nursing are monitored by the California Board of Registered Nursing. 

Three additional tenure track faculty positions and 6.5 clinical faculty positions will be funded by Sequoia.  This will provide for the non-teaching  WTUs for a satellite program coordinator and for the current Associate Director and Director to provide administrative oversight of the satellite program.  The additional faculty will attend SFSU School of Nursing faculty meetings, participate on SFSU School of Nursing Committees, participate in curriculum revision and development, and have access to previous and current syllabi of all SFSU nursing courses.  The additional clinical faculty (lecturers) hired to staff the sections of courses offered in clinical settings at Sequoia Healthcare District and other facilities on the Peninsula such as Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, San Mateo Department of Public Health, etc. will participate in the same CFA benefits and governance as all lecturers in the School of Nursing.

The following curriculum plan is the identical curriculum plan already approved and in existence at SFSU.  The only difference in the curriculum plan proposed for the Cañada Satellite is that the five semesters will run consecutively.  The BSN program at SFSU admits students each Fall and each Spring.  The SFSU BSN students do not have nursing courses offered in the summer, therefore it takes two and a half to three years to complete the five semester SFSU BSN curriculum.  The Cañada satellite program would provide a slightly accelerated version of the curriculum by admitting each Fall semester and offering the third semester during the summer.  Students would graduate with a BSN in less than two years.

Curriculum Plan

Nursing Courses/General Education/Electives

Semester 1         FALL          

Units

N111 Professional Nursing Concepts

3

N112 Healthy Aging

1

N113 Practicum I

2

N114 Health Assessment

2

N115 Health Assessment Skills Lab

1

N116 Basic Nursing Skills Lab

1

Total: Semester 1

10

Semester 2               SPRING

N222 Nursing of Adults

3

N223 Practicum II

3

N224 Technical Skills

1

N225 Pharmacology

2

N333 Pathophysiology

2

Total: Semester 2

11

Semester 3         SUMMER

N334 Maternity Nursing/Family Assessment

3

N335 Practicum III

3

N336 Nursing of Ill Children

2

N337 Practicum IV

3

                                             Total:Semester

11

Semester 4        FALL

N444 Psychiatric/Mental Health

2

N445 Practicum V

3

N446 Community Health

3

N447 Practicum VI

3

Total: Semester 4

11

Semester 5           SPRING

N555 Nursing Research

2

N556 Nursing Leadership

2

N557 Practicum VII

4

                                          Total: Semester 5

     8

Students will have the option of enrolling in upper division General Education and elective courses (9 units required for BSN) at SFSU or they can choose the to take those offered through CEL at Cañada. 

The clinical courses (practicum courses) will be offered at Sequoia Hospital and through cooperative agreements with other health care facilities in the area such as Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital for pediatric and obstetrical clinical rotations, clinics for community health, etc. 

Program Setting, Structure, and Students

Cañada College will promote the SFSU Satellite Nursing Program and will recruit students through a pre-nursing lower division program of study that includes all SFSU Nursing prerequisites.  The application is the same as SFSU, however the deadline will be later that the SFSU deadline for the first year.  The applicant pool for the Satellite Program will be reviewed by the Admissions Committee after admissions decisions are made for the SFSU program.  Admissions criteria are the same for both programs:

Undergraduate students must be admissible to the University in accordance with existing criteria as stated in the SFSU Bulletin "Undergraduate Admissions Requirements." In addition, students seeking to major in Nursing must meet the following criteria and prerequisites: completion of the following courses with a minimum of a C in each of the prerequisite courses; and a cumulative GPA in the last 60 units of 2.80 or better. A "C-" grade is not acceptable in any of the pre-requisites.

Physiology with lab

1 semester

Anatomy with lab

1 semester

Integrated Chemistry with lab

1 semester

General Microbiology with lab

1 semester

English/Written Communication

1 semester

Speech/Oral Communication

1 semester

Critical Thinking

1 semester

Quantitative Reasoning (Statistics)

1 semester

San Mateo County Community College course equivalents can be found at ASSIST.

Since Fall, 1992 the Nursing major has had impacted status. In addition to selection by GPA in the pre-requisites, the following optional supplemental criteria will be considered for admission to the SFSU Satellite program at Cañada:

A.  Health-related work and/or volunteer experience

B.  Under-representation of ethnic/gender groups in nursing

C.  Live and/or work in the Sequoia Health Care District for at least two years *

D.  Multicultural community experience, including bilingual/multilingual proficiency

E.  The majority of lower division courses were taken in the San Mateo County 

     Community College District *

*indicates additional supplemental criteria for the satellite program above the current SFSU supplemental criteria. These were approved by the School of Nursing Admissions Committee.

Numbers of Students to be Served

Based on current Bay Area statistics on applicants to nursing programs we anticipate between 60 and 200 applicants to the SFSU Satellite Program at Cañada will meet the admission criteria each year.  The first year we plan to accept up to 32 students into the nursing program.  We plan to admit 40 students in each subsequent year.  At the end of the proposed ten year contract there would be an additional 300+ Baccalaureate prepared registered nurse graduates of this program.

Criteria and Procedures used to Hire, Evaluate, and Retain Faculty

Recruitment and selection of faculty to teach the courses in the Satellite Program is the responsibility of the School of Nursing Hiring, Retention, Promotion, and Tenure Committee and the College of Health and Human Services.  The same process for faculty hiring, evaluation, and retention will be used for the newly funded positions. The part-time clinical faculty (lecturers) will meet the same requirements as SFSU lecturers and will receive the same benefits.  The funding for three full time equivalent faculty (FTEF) plus 6.5 lecturer positions will be transferred to the general fund in the form of reimbursed release time through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs as part of a contract with Sequoia Health Care District. 

A maximum of three additional tenure track faculty would result from this program.  Over half of the current School of Nursing faculty will retire in the next five to ten years.  The demand for qualified nursing faculty is increasing.  The average age of new Ph.D. nursing graduates is 47.5 years old.  We do not anticipate having any problems absorbing three additional tenure track faculty in the unlikely event that funding does not continue past the initial 6 to ten years.

Access to Academic Resources

Library:  The SFSU Library Liaison to the School of Nursing made a site visit and consulted with the librarians at Cañada College regarding the best ways to build the Cañada College library collection.  Funding for $50,000 up front and at least $3,000  annually is committed for library acquisitions.  This should also ensure compliance with California Board of Registered Nursing BRN and CCNE accreditation standards.  Students at Cañada will have the same access to electronic data bases and to OASIS as SFSU students.  We will host a site visit of the BRN to ensure that the library offerings are in compliance.

Advising for the pre-nursing component will be available on Cañada College campus with a liaison to the CHHS Student Resource Center via phone and on-line advising.

Every effort will be made to ensure that students enrolled in the Cañada Satellite have the same access to financial aid, disability assistance, learning assistance, etc. that students on SFSU campus have.  We are assessing existing resources at Cañada and will fund any gaps that are found in these areas.

Instructional Support

The contract with Sequoia will fund filing systems, xerox and duplication, audio-visual equipment, and other support materials to faculty teaching at the Cañada Satellite.  The SFSU Center for the Enhancement of Teaching will be available for development of faculty teaching at Cañada.  All copyright provisions will be maintained.  Electronic reserves will be accessible to students at Cañada.  Funding will be provided to ensure that JEPET can be administered on site on a regular basis.

Coordination

The Director of the School of Nursing at SFSU, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and the Dean for the College of Extended Learning will monitor the Funding of this contract.  They will work closely with the Associate Dean of CEL to monitor registration, fees, catalog copy and student transcripts.  The Director and the Associate Director for the School of Nursing at SFSU will coordinate the implementation of the curriculum at the satellite campus.  They will determine the courses to be offered.  They will provide an orientation to the new full-time faculty hired for the satellite nursing program along with any new faculty hired at the SFSU campus.  They will also provide an orientation for all lecturers who teach clinical courses. 

The newly hired Administrative Office Coordinator for the Cañada satellite will coordinate scheduling of theory and clinical courses, the record-keeping of student admission, matriculation, course of study, collection and distribution of grades, etc. 

Ensuring Academic Community Comparable to SFSU School of Nursing

Cañada College will provide classroom, office, advising, and skills lab space for students in the Nursing Satellite Program.  Sequoia Healthcare District will fund a state-of-the-art skills lab that may exceed the SFSU skills labs.  Because of the smaller number of matriculating students, the cohorted nature of the nursing program, and the partnership with clinical agencies for clinical courses, students at the Cañada Satellite may have a more intimate and involved sense of community compared to students in the BSN program on the SFSU campus.

SFSU is working hard to ensure that a Baccalaureate atmosphere exists at Cañada College through the University Center and the Pathways project.  SFSU faculty already have office space and visibility at Cañada and students from the lower division and upper division have exposure to the baccalaureate presence.  Established in 2001, the SFSU/Cañada College Partnership offers four-year college degree programs, workplace certifications and graduate-level programs that are accessible and convenient for area residents. The Partnership enables students to receive an affordable college education and remain close to their community, eliminating the barriers that discourage many from pursuing a baccalaureate education.

Review Processes

The same continuous quality improvement measures undertaken for the curriculum at SFSU will be implemented at the Cañada Satellite.  Course and faculty evaluations will be the same, employer surveys, exit surveys, NCLEX pass rate data, and a variety of other outcome measures used at SFSU will be used identically at Cañada.  Faculty who teach at Cañada will be evaluated by the same criteria as the SFSU faculty; by the Director and the HRTP Committee.

Credit

Students in the Cañada Satellite program will receive credit through matriculation.  They will be admitted to the University and earn residence credit through the CEL registration process. Cañada College will provide lower division courses including the nursing prerequisites.  SFSU School of Nursing will provide the nursing curriculum, accreditation, and oversight of the Satellite Nursing Program at Cañada College.  SFSU will deliver upper division general education electives on the Cañada campus through CEL as much as is feasible.

Fees

Fees will be determined annually based on current SFSU tuition and the costs of the program with the goal of providing baccalaureate nursing education for a cost that is comparable to CSU costs.  The breakdown of how the fees will be used will be specified in the contract. 

Financial Aid

The Financial Aid liaison for the School of Nursing has agreed to provide an orientation  and access to loan and scholarship information for students at Cañada.  In addition, Sequoia Hospital is planning to make forgivable loans available to students enrolled in the satellite program.