Distant Education In Nursing and FSMFN Student Outcomes and Faculty Requirement
Outcomes Students and Graduates
In 2003, FSMFN graduated the first class of MSN students. Seventeen students graduated on October 18 with a master of science in nursing degree. There are currently 120 students enrolled in the MSN program. During the calendar year of 2003, 268 students attended the school. This included 227 in the nurse midwifery track and 41 in the family nurse practitioner track.
Nine enrolled in the Women's Health Nurse Practitioner completion option. Three are currently enrolled in a dual program plan with intentions of completing both the nursing midwifery and the family nurse practitioner tracks.
Twelve of the CNEP students participated in the Women's Health Nurse Practitioner completion option. The average age of students is 39 years old. Of the 268 students, 246 were Caucasian, 15 were African American, two were Hispanic, one was Asian, three were American Indians, and one was Iranian. The students represented every single state in the Union by their geographical place of residence.
There were 262 women and 6 men enrolled. A total of 89 new students attended the Frontier Bound orientation sessions. This represents a 7% increase in enrollment compared to 2002. A total of 107 students participated in the clinical portion of their education, using 149 clinical sites. Students attending the Level III on site, 2-week sessions totaled 61. A total of 200 or 75% of students participated in the Federal Financial Aid Program.
Faculty
FSMFN has a dedicated complement of 32 teachers, administrators, and librarians. Of this number, 16 are full time, and 16 are part time. All but two of the part time faculty are regional clinical coordinators (RCCs). RCCs are clinical faculty whose main priority is to provide advising services to students and clinical faculty during the clinical portion of the students' education.
This includes making pre-clinical site visits to evaluate the suitability of a site and clinical site visits when a student is at the site. RCCs are assigned to cover a specific geographic region. All faculty have a minimum of a master's degree, with seven having doctoral preparation. All are certified in their area of specialty, with five holding certifications as both nurse midwives and family nurse practitioners. Six faculty members are currently pursuing doctorates.
Support Staff
The FSMFN staff includes a group of devoted professionals intent on providing excellent support services to the students. The staff includes the registrar, the financial aid officer, and the quality assurance coordinator (QAC). The QAC handles all arrangements for clinical site placement.
This includes working with the clinical sites to arrange the site visits and establish contracts before any student is placed at the site. There is also a four-member multimedia team that builds all the courses, manages the technology infrastructure, and provides technical support to students, faculty, and staff.
Graduation Reports After Degree Completion
A total of 53 students completed the CNEP in 2003. Of the 53 CNEP graduates, 19 also received a master of science in nursing degree. Additionally, nine of the CNEP graduates completed the added course work to obtain a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner certificate. A total of eight students graduated from the CFNP. Of the eight CFNP graduates, five also received a master of science in nursing degree. One student completed both the CNEP and CFNP.
Evaluation Results About National Certification
Results on the national certification exam are one indicator of the quality of the curriculum and the program. The 2003 results for the ACNM Certifying Corporation (ACC) examination show that CNEP graduates had a 92% first time pass rate compared to a 76.2% national first time pass rate. All CFNP graduates have passed the national certifying exam the first time.
Results of the graduate survey completed in January 2004 reveal that CNEP graduates are employed in their specialty and are serving under served clients. Some are also running their own practices. There were five graduate surveys sent out for the CFNP track. Two were returned, which does not allow for any grouped data analysis.
The Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing engaged in a purposeful plan to convert its distance education certificate programs to an online master of science in nursing degree offering for nurse midwives and nurse practitioners.
The result is a high quality program that provides excellent educational opportunities at the graduate level for nurses who desire to further their education but cannot leave their home communities or who need to study on their own schedules.
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