Community of Support Issue - October 2024

I was a late bloomer to the peer evaluation role in accreditation. Although I had entered nursing education as faculty in 2004, I was fresh from the direct patient care environment and scared witless at what I didn’t know about teaching. During the first few years of teaching, I had no real mentor to help me – in fact, the environment was somewhat toxic, so I accepted responsibility for my own orientation and learning. I sought out continuing education and successfully completed a post-graduate program in nursing education.

As time went on, I was asked to take the director of the nursing position at my college. It was a challenging environment, to say the least. I learned an accreditation visit was coming soon and at the same time learned there had been absolutely no faculty work on the standards. No records, no data, nothing. It was disappointing, to say the least. Several of the faculty left, and new faculty came on board.  At the time of the site visit 65% of the faculty were new. That site visit was brutal, in the words of one of the faculty. Our program was placed on “continuing accreditation with warning.” We were devastated but not defeated.

In the end, after follow-up reports and visits, we achieved ongoing accreditation. We had developed a systematic plan that required faculty to focus on specific standards, collect data, and then faculty as a whole analyzed the findings. Several of the faculty honed their expertise by attending the ACEN continuing education workshops. I also brought nursing education consultants to campus each year to continue faculty development. Since the earlier difficulties, the nursing programs have maintained continuing accreditation and full regulatory approval.

In 2013, I was promoted to Dean for Health Sciences and remained Nursing Programs Administrator. In 2019, I was promoted to Dean for Technical Studies and moved away from daily responsibility for the nursing programs. I write this piece not to brag about myself or my former program, but rather to encourage you to consider becoming a peer evaluator for the ACEN. I sincerely regret that I did not volunteer sooner than I did. The demands of my position were significant, and many other life issues got in the way. But I eventually stepped forward to volunteer and can highly recommend that you consider doing the same.

Being an ACEN Peer Evaluator is a great learning experience. Most colleges are supportive of faculty taking part in accreditation activities. Be sure to check college policy regarding this activity. The ACEN provides orientation and continuing education. As a new evaluator, you are assigned to a team with an experienced chair who typically has several years of experience with site visits. The organization continues to serve as a mentor and resource for peer evaluators, available to discuss any visit findings and provide guidance. The ACEN covers travel expenses (see the appropriate ACEN travel policy) and the education program arranges and covers lodging. There is minimal out-of-pocket expense for the peer evaluator and a daily honorarium is provided to help cover meals, etc. Bottom line, the cost to you, the peer evaluator, is negligible but the benefits are many. Become a Peer Evaluator (acenursing.org)

Volunteering as a peer evaluator for the ACEN gives one access to multiple other programs around the country. You may gain ideas to improve your own accreditation strategies and program operations. Networking with other team members provides an opportunity for in-depth discussion about the Standards. One gains experience with analysis and documentation of standards compliance. Peer evaluation builds your confidence in Standards compliance for your own program. And through it all, the ACEN staff are there to support you. You’re never alone!

Rather than focus on a single “best practice”, I encourage the reader to take a broader look at how to develop a comprehensive mentality of “best practice.” The only way to do that is to engage in activities that expose the nurse educator to a broad range of practices in a broad range of settings. And what better way to engage than as an ACEN peer evaluator!

Consider volunteering as an ACEN peer evaluator – sooner rather than later.  You will not regret it, and the cost is nothing but your time!

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