Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

NHS Honored as Center of Excellence in Nursing Education

SHEEL PATEL/THE HOYA The School of Nursing and Health Studies will be designated as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education for 2018 through 2022. The National League of Nursing recognition is for the NHS’ dedication to enhancing student learning and professional development. The recognition ceremony is Sept. 14 at the NLN’s 2018 Education Summit in Chicago.

The School of Nursing and Health Studies is being recognized as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education by the National League for Nursing in a ceremony in Chicago on Sept. 14.

The departments of advanced nursing practice and professional nursing practice, which are the school’s professional and advanced nursing programs, are both set to receive the designation. Georgetown’s recognition as a Center of Excellence is for 2018 through 2022, and is based on six National League for Nursing criteria: professionalism, values, educational innovations, curriculum, clinical engagement and community collaborations.

Patricia Cloonan, dean of the NHS, praised the school’s history and those in the school who applied for the designation for their success.

“This NLN designation shines a bright light on our distinguished history; a collective group of exceptional Georgetown nursing students, faculty, and alumni; and a future oriented toward innovation and enduring values,” Cloonan said in a July 24 news release. “I congratulate my colleagues on this successful application and the broader community for all that it says about them and their dedication.”

Edilma Yearwood, chair of the department of professional nursing practice, led the initiative to apply for the designation, working alongside colleagues to complete the application. The almost 95-page application explains how the NHS’s response to the six criteria.

“I thank Dr. Maggie Nolan and Dr. Jane Fall-Dickson who worked tirelessly with me on our application,” Yearwood said in the news release. “I also appreciate the efforts of Dr. Mary Haras, who reviewed the final product and provided suggestions to the team. We are happy to represent Georgetown in Chicago and bring home this prestigious designation.”

The NHS is specifically recognized for its achievements in “creating environments that enhance student learning and professional development,” a designation that Chair of the department of advanced nursing practice Mary Haras said is thanks to Georgetown’s Jesuit values.

“The National League for Nursing Center of Excellence designation for Creating Environments that Enhance Student Learning and Professional Development recognition is a testament to NHS’ commitment to our Jesuit values and values-based nursing model,” Haras wrote in an email to The Hoya. “This national recognition highlights the Departments of Nursings’ sustained commitment to creating a learning environment through program innovation in order to develop students’ values through engagement with community partners and faculty.”

Jane Fall-Dickson, assistant chair for research in the department of professional nursing practice, sees the value of cura personalis as essential to why the NHS earned the recognition.

“Our nursing programs are infused with Jesuit philosophy demonstrated by our students and faculty as they embrace working with vulnerable and underserved populations in local, national, and global communities informed by the value of cura personalis,” Fall-Dickson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The National League for Nursing is the oldest nursing organization in the United States and was founded in 1893, just 10 years before the NHS was established in 1903. The organization focuses on nursing education and is recognizing 15 other institutions at the Centers of Excellence ceremony during the 2018 National League for Nursing Education Summit.

The Centers of Excellence program is designed to create a model for other institutions of nursing education, National League for Nursing CEO Beverly Malone, who holds an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University, said in a news release.

“Centers of Excellence help raise the bar for all nursing programs by role modeling visionary leadership and environments of inclusive excellence that nurture the next generation of a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the health of the nation and the global community,” Malone said in the news release.

Margaret Nolan, interim program director of the Clinical Nurse Leader Program in the department of professional nursing practice, echoed Malone’s remarks on the significance of building the next generation of the nursing workforce.

“The NLN designation of Georgetown’s nursing programs as a Center of Excellence affirms what we have been doing since 1903, educating a world-class nursing workforce,” Nolan wrote in an email to The Hoya.“It both recognizes and advances that tradition of excellence.”

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