current acquisition of equipment has included: ten patient care manikins, two pediatric high-fidelity manikins, and three adult high fidelity manikins, as well as ventilators, crash carts, and defibrillators. Faculty fully utilize the Tegrity classroom capture system to record each classroom lecture, which enables students to review class material online. Students in the upper division can elect the hybrid option, which requires campus attendance for labs, simulations, and testing, but allows students the option to master course material at their own pace. Clinical attendance is mandatory regardless of the class format selected. The Blackboard Course Management System allows faculty and staff to communicate without constraints on location or time through the Internet. There is a WS Nursing Facebook page that is primarily used for pre-nursing students and others who have an interest in our DNE. Course-specific materials are not posted to Facebook. However, Facebook posts ensure a widespread distribution and may be used for communication in urgent situations, such as weather. Faculty and Staff are looking forward with much anticipation to the new building being constructed for the DNE. It will provide comfortable learning environments for interactive student learning as well as spacious skills labs and a nine-room simulation center complete with high-fidelity manikins and requisite medical equipment. The simulation area will utilize two medication rooms, two control rooms for video capture and monitoring, and two debriefing rooms. This will enable the simulation equipment that has already been purchased to be fully utilized. The program’s spring 2013 budget proposal is included as Attachment 14.11. The recommendation of the Administrative Council is included as Attachment 14.12, and the presidential response is Attachment 14.13 with actions related to this program highlighted. A summary of the previous year’s discretionary funding is included as Attachment 14.14. Advisory Committee Minutes are included as Attachment 14.15.
Program Hightlights The DNE has experienced a special year. In April 2013, the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) recommended that the Associate Degree Nursing Program be granted continuing accreditation and the Practical Nursing Program be granted initial accreditation. The NLNAC commended the DNE for the following: the participation of the community with the DNE in initiatives such as the Let’s Pretend Hospital (LPH) Project, which has provided health education for over 1000 first-graders in Cullman County yearly since 2008 in partnership with the Cullman Regional Medical Center and Cullman School Systems, and KidCheck, which is a school-based screening project that has served over 2000 children in Blount County yearly since 2001 in partnership with the Karing for Kids
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