2014-2015 Annual Program Assessment Report
Please submit report to your department chair or program coordinator, the Associate Dean of your College, and to james.solomon@csun.edu, director of
assessment and program review, by September 30, 2015. You may, but are not required to, submit a separate report for each program, including graduate degree
programs, which conducted assessment activities, or you may combine programs in a single report. Please identify your department/program in the file name for
your report.
College: Health and Human Development
Department: Health Sciences
Program: Public Health
Assessment liaison:
1.
Please check off whichever is applicable:
A. ________ Measured student work.
B. ____x___ Analyzed results of measurement.
C. ________ Applied results of analysis to program review/curriculum/review/revision.
2.
Overview of Annual Assessment Project(s). On a separate sheet, provide a brief overview of this year’s assessment activities, including:
 an explanation for why your department chose the assessment activities (measurement, analysis, and/or application) that it enacted
 if your department implemented assessment option A, identify which program SLOs were assessed (please identify the SLOs in full), in which classes
and/or contexts, what assessment instruments were used and the methodology employed, the resulting scores, and the relation between this year’s
measure of student work and that of past years: (include as an appendix any and all relevant materials that you wish to include)
 if your department implemented assessment option B, identify what conclusions were drawn from the analysis of measured results, what changes to the
program were planned in response, and the relation between this year’s analyses and past and future assessment activities
 if your department implemented option C, identify the program modifications that were adopted, and the relation between program modifications and
past and future assessment activities
 in what way(s) your assessment activities may reflect the university’s commitment to diversity in all its dimensions but especially with respect to
underrepresented groups
 any other assessment-related information you wish to include, including SLO revision (especially to ensure continuing alignment between program
course offerings and both program and university student learning outcomes), and/or the creation and modification of new assessment instruments
Preview of planned assessment activities for next year. Include a brief description and explanation of how next year’s assessment will contribute to a
continuous program of ongoing assessment.
3.
2. Overview of Annual Assessment Projects
To determine if our program is effective in preparing our students for the nursing workforce, we administer satisfaction survey to all entering and graduating
students in the nursing program. The two types of surveys that are administered: an “entry” survey at the end of their first semester at CSUN and an “exit” survey
at the end of their last semester at CSUN after completing all their coursework. The surveys were developed to addresses all of the core competencies for
nursing professionals and are based on the AACN Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, which is the basis for our program’s
eight SLO’s revised in 2011. Exit evaluations also contain questions related to satisfaction with courses students took during their program. These surveys are
confidential and are sent electronically via survey monkey to students to complete on a voluntary basis. Students are assessed on their satisfaction with services
provided by CSUN and the department of nursing and their satisfaction with their learning during the courses they took as part of the program. Questions on
students’ satisfaction are scored on a likert scale. Data collected from students are analyzed, reported in aggregate, and are used for accreditation purposes as
well. Data analysis is performed “within” and “between” groups in order to assess the satisfaction of each group/cohort at the beginning and at the end of their
program. We also compare satisfaction scores between groups/cohorts in order to examine trends and consistency of satisfaction between groups over time. In
this report, only between groups comparison will be presented. Therefore, ABSN students who were admitted in summer 2014 (cohort 14) and fall 2014 (cohort
15) completed the “entry” survey at the end of those semesters. Exit surveys were also administered to ABSN students who graduated in Summer 2014 (cohort
12) and fall 2014 (cohort 13). Students in RNBSN program also completed Entry survey at the end of their first semester in fall 2014. Exit surveys were
administered to RNBSN who completed all their course work before graduation in fall 2014, spring 2014, and spring 2015.
Students ranked their satisfaction with their learning with the following scale:
1
not satisfied at all
2
Slightly satisfied
3
Satisfied
4
Extremely satisfied
2
RN-BSN Exit
Spring 2015N=8
Mean
Response
RN-BSN
Exit Fall 14N=8
Mean
Response
3.0
2.88
3.51
3.0
2.86
3.51
c) Think critically in decision-making
3.14
2.75
3.51
d) Apply research findings to practice
e) Collaborate with members of the health care
team
f) Strengthen accountability and responsibility
for my own practice
3.63
3.38
3.59
3.17
3.0
3.56
3.33
3.0
3.59
g) Learn leadership skills
3.13
3.14
3.41
h) Provide culturally congruent care
3.13
3.0
3.5
i) Respect patients' beliefs and values
j) Seek learning opportunities to further my
professional development
3.13
3.0
3.68
3.38
3.0
3.57
k) Apply theoretical knowledge to practice
3.13
3.13
3.54
l) Apply ethical and legal principles to practice
3.13
3.0
3.51
m) Prepare for graduate study
3.13
3.0
3.32
n) Use information technology effectively
o) Identify economic, legal, and political factors
impacting care
3.13
3.0
3.36
3.0
2.88
3.47
302 Pathophysiology
3.63
3.38
3.76
307 Health Assessment
3.75
3.5
3.68
307L Health Assessment Clinical Lab
3.75
3.71
3.68
3.5
3.63
3.59
426 Nursing systems issues and ethics
3.13
3.5
3.62
427 Leadership
2.75
2.63
3.31
Answer Options
a) Apply the nursing process to care of
individuals, families, groups, communities and
populations
b) Communicate effectively with patients,
families, and members of the health care team
310 Principles of Nursing research
RN-BSN
Exit Spring
2014 N=37
Mean
Response
3
427 Leadership Clinical lab
2.75
3.0
3.49
428 Community Health nursing
3.25
3.0
3.7
428L Community Health nursing Clinical Lab
3.25
3.13
3.7
303 Professional Nursing
2.75
2.38
3.19
306 Supportive/educative nursing
3.29
2.88
3.39
2.5
3.63
3.7
495 Senior Project
Results of our RN-BSN that completed Exit
survey prior to graduation between Spring 2015
and Spring 2014
Results of our ABSN that completed Exit survey
prior to graduation in Summer 2014, Fall 2014, & Summer 2015.
ABSN 14-Exit
N=10
Response
Mean
ABSN 13 ExitExit N=12
Response
Mean
ABSN 12 ExitN=14 Response
Mean
a) Apply the nursing process to care of
individuals, families, groups,
communities and populations
3.22
3.33
3.36
b) Communicate effectively with patients,
families, and members of the health care
team
3.4
3.33
3.43
c) Think critically in decision-making
3.30
3.25
3.00
d) Apply research findings to practice
3.4
3.33
3.21
e) Collaborate with members of the health
care team
3.30
2.92
3.07
f) Strengthen accountability and
responsibility for my own practice
3.4
3.17
3.07
g) Learn leadership skills
3.10
2.58
2.79
Answer Options
4
h) Provide culturally congruent care
3.5
3.58
3.29
i) Respect patients' beliefs and values
3.50
3.67
3.43
j) Seek learning opportunities to further
my professional development
3.00
3.25
3.07
k) Apply theoretical knowledge to
practice
3.40
3.42
3.29
l) Apply ethical and legal principles to
practice
3.5
3.33
3.43
m) Prepare for graduate study
3.20
3.08
2.86
n) Use information technology effectively
3.2
3.08
3.07
o) Identify economic, legal, and political
factors impacting care
3.10
3.17
2.86
302 Pathophysiology
3.2
2.5
3.43
307 Health Assessment
3.4
3.50
3.07
307L Health Assessment Clinical Lab
3.5
3.42
3.64
310 Principles of Nursing research
2.8
3.33
2.93
315 Pharmacology and self care agency
3.5
3.42
3.86
318 Introduction to professional nursing
3.2
3.58
3.36
318L Introduction to professional nursing
clinical lab
3.4
3.58
3.64
2.33
2.79
2.2
306 Effective communication in
5
professional nursing
321 Adult/aged medical-surgical nursing
3.5
3.67
3.79
321AL Adult/aged medical-surgical
nursing Clinical Laboratory
3.9
3.67
3.79
321BL Nursing care of older adults
Clinical Lab
3.5
3.25
2.43
443 Nursing care of children clinical lab
3.3
3.08
2.64
443L Nursing care of children clinical lab
3.6
3.5
3.36
444 Nursing care of child bearing family
3.5
3.33
3.36
444L Nursing care of child bearing family
Clinical Lab
3.5
3.00
3.57
430 Psychiatric/mental health nursing
3.4
3.50
3.00
430L Psychiatric/mental health nursing
clinical lab
3.3
3.42
2.86
426 Nursing systems issues and ethics
3.0
3.58
3.43
427 Leadership
2.6
1.58
2.14
427 Leadership Clinical lab
3.1
2.91
3.43
428 Community Health nursing
2.8
3.42
2.93
428L Community Health nursing Clinical
Lab
2.8
3.25
2.86
6
These above results indicate that students graduating from our program are well prepared in all competencies derived from the CCNE Essentials of Baccalaureate
Education, on which our department’s PLO’s are based. Our students are leaving our program with a solid knowledge to assume their nursing roles in the work
force and are satisfied with how well our program is preparing them for graduate school. The overall students’ satisfaction with our courses also indicate that
both ABSN and RNBSN students are satisfied with all courses. Areas that may need improvement in our program are courses of community health, leadership,
and communication for the RNBSN groups and professional nursing and leadership for the ABSN students. However, given the small sample size more data is
needed before we can draw such conclusions. Completion of the surveys is not mandatory and link to survey is sent via email. Since there is no credit for
completing the survey or impact on their grade, most students chose to ignore the request, particularly for the ABSN students. The completion rate for the
RNBSN has been better than that of the ABSN since the surveys are included in their senior project syllabus as a credit/non-credit assignment. The faculty
teaching that course ensures that students complete the surveys before the end of the semester. To address the low response rate among the ABSN students, we
may include these surveys in one of the courses that students take during their last semester and possibly completing them during class.
Another assessment project, which got published was undertaken in 2015 and aimed to evaluate the students’ satisfaction with their learning and experience
during simulation and post-simulation debriefing. Simulation consists of several lab training sessions embedded within the Fundamental Nursing/Nurs 318L
course (N=72) and Medical-surgical nursing/Nurs 321L (N=88). A performance survey was developed based on the national Quality and Safety Education for
Nurses (QSEN) competencies that aim at ensuring nurses are engaged in optimum quality and safe patient care. Results indicate that students’ mean scores of
their agreement on the statements included in the survey were all above 3 (maximum score is 5, see scale below). Items included in the survey address critical
thinking, clinical preparation, application of theory and knowledge to practice, clinical confidence, teamwork, and professionalism. Comparing survey results
between Nurs 318L and Nurs 321L showed that simulation experience was significantly effective in improving mean agreement scores on students’ overall
clinical expectation; debriefing feedback; prioritization; setting goals for patients; confidence in clinical abilities; professionalism, and bedside manners.
Improvement in mean ratings of some other surveys statements were not significant but showed a trend towards significance such as decision making; improving
bedside assessment skills; managing complex clinical scenarios; and feeling prepared to care for critically ill patients. These results indicate that our students are
satisfied with and perceive simulation and debriefing as important aspect of their learning and preparing them for their real life clinical training. Our department
is satisfied with the results of the simulation & debriefing assessment results and plan to address those items that was not significantly different between the two
classes. The faculty is committed to continue to teach our students the knowledge, skills, and professionalism necessary to succeed in the nursing work force.
Students ranked their agreement with their simulation learning with the following scale:
1
Strongly disagree
2
Disagree
3
Agree
4
Strongly agree
7
3.
Preview of planned assessment activities for next year.
In the 2015-2016 academic year, the nursing department will continue to administer the Entry and Exit assessment surveys to all students who are admitted and
those who successfully complete the program, We plan to increase response rates especially in the ABSN cohorts by implementing some strategies such as
encouraging faculty to have students complete the assessment surveys during class and encouraging students to participate in these surveys by increasing
awareness of the purpose and importance of their participation in these assessment surveys. We revised the clinical preceptor and clinical site evaluation surveys
and thus will be using this evaluation for students who are enrolled in all clinical courses to assess their satisfaction with their clinical experience and the
effectiveness of their preceptors and sites in facilitating their learning. In addition we plan to revise our plan of surveying our alumni and their employers to
increase response rates. Our current alumni surveys assess where they are employed and how well our program prepared them for nursing jobs and graduate
education. Current employer surveys assess how satisfied they are with our alumni and whether our program prepared them well for their nursing jobs.
Additionally, we plan to compare students in the same cohort as they progress in the program from one course/level to another (e.g. Nurs 318L & 321L;
Simulation & debriefing), which will inform us on how students are progressing in the program so any concerns may be addressed on time.
8