FPB is committed to helping future nurses thrive.
"Our goal is to inspire success in all students. We are committed to fostering an environment where students' ideas are heard and valued."
Carol M. Musil, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA
Dean, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing
Edward J. and Louise Mellen Professor
Case Western Reserve University
The Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing launched its Student Experience Initiative in October 2016 to enrich the learning environment across all of our programs—BSN, MN, MSN, DNP, and PhD. Using feedback from student focus groups and course evaluations along with the creation of the Dean's Student Advisory Council, this student-driven effort has created enhancements in the areas of clinicals, instruction, communication, advising and mentoring, and administrative systems.
The Student Advisory Council meets regularly with Dean Musil and Camille Warner, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, to discuss current affairs related to student life at FPB.
You spoke. We heard. Your feedback drives change.
With suggestions from students, each program implemented a number of changes to augment student life in and out of the classroom. Here are a few examples of ongoing improvement efforts and accomplishments.
Created Canvas site with essential student information for each program.
Improved Clinical Placement Process consistent with student needs and space availability.
Created manager position in the Center for Nursing Education, Simulation and Innovation.
Current Efforts
Instruction: a) Faculty development for instruction, lecturing and organization; b) faculty development in new learning management system and technologies for teaching.
Communication: More effective communication and collaboration a) among faculty and with clinical sites, and b) each semester cohort meetings with Program Director, faculty level leaders and students.
Advising and Mentoring: a) Consistent advisors, expectation guidelines and Program Director meetings with advisors; b) university created student navigator roles; c) student nurse athlete advisor role developed.
Student Wellbeing: Exploring a nurse-led, School of Nursing-based student wellbeing and support service to assist students coping with experiences in clinical settings.
Administrative and Systems: a) Considerable effort in planning schedules of students for 2019 to prevent excessive traveling between the new HEC home for the nursing school and the main CWRU campus and courses; b) major collaboration with university to open the breadth of general education electives for nursing students.
Past Accomplishments
Clinical & Communication: Communicated more effectively about transportation needs and parking costs for clinical sites. Security added for safety at specific clinical sites.
Instruction: Combined two fundamental freshmen courses to allow more time for outside study.
Advising and Mentoring: Improved faculty response time to email inquiries from students.
Current Efforts
Instruction: Faculty development in instruction, lecturing and syllabus posting ongoing.
Administrative and Systems: Organization and scheduling of courses by semester to lessen overload in some semesters.
Administrative and Systems: Created a student representative body to meet with program director on regular basis with feedback shared at faculty meetings. Feedback used in continuous quality improvement efforts.
Past Accomplishments
Communication: Improved faculty response to student learning requests and student understanding of the difference between MN and BSN degrees.
Communication: More effective communication in recruitment and enrollment processes regarding MN student admission to MSN specialty programs.
Clinicals: Aligned clinical practicums to the specialty to the student interest for later study in the MSN program.
Administrative and Systems: Created best practices for financial aid which were incorporated in a new, FPB-specific financial aid website.
Current Efforts
Instruction: Program director met with CRNA students to educate them in accreditation requirements in response to their request for a separate CRNA program and information included in orientation for future students.
Clinicals: Improving the efficiency of the clinical placement process by centralizing and streamlining the process. Evaluation ongoing.
Clinicals: Improving the quality of some clinical preceptors via revisions to the student and preceptor evaluation process. Evaluation of revisions ongoing.
Instruction: Enhancing faculty development through increased instruction and lecturing.
Administrative and Systems: Streamlining courses and decreasing information overload.
Instruction: Systematic review of all courses, and eliminated redundancies in the curriculum overall and in individual MSN program tracks.
Communication: Developed face-to-face orientation program for all specialties and implemented in fall of 2019.
Past Accomplishments
Instruction: a) Added new course to integrate psych curriculum across all MSN specialties; b) revised course evaluation process and increased student response rate.
Advising and Mentoring: Created standard expectations for faculty.
Communication: Improved faculty response time to student emails and accessibility outside the classroom.
Current Efforts
Communication: Improve faculty response time to student emails and clarity/consistency in expectations.
Advising and Mentoring: Improve overall responsiveness and development of some advisors and mentors.
Advising and Mentoring: Define a clear path to graduation for each student individually.
Administrative and Systems: Improve registration, billing, and course scheduling.
Administrative and Systems: Provide more information on accommodations, transportation and parking.
Communication: Improving posted guidelines for DNP practicum and the scholarly project.
Administrative and Systems: Creating a DNP-specific student handbook.
Past Accomplishments
Advising and Mentoring: Revised advising process to include updating faculty on current DNP program guidelines.
Instruction: Created new out-of-state cohorts for DNP program.
Current Efforts
Administrative and Systems: New program director reviewing the results of the Spring student survey in preparation for next steps.
Past Accomplishments
Communication: Ongoing education and communication on issues and guidelines through a PhD newsletter and other electronic media.
Communication: Created boosters to refresh students on information presented during orientation.