ACEN Accreditation Manual – Policy 2

ACCREDITATION MANUAL  •  SECTION I GENERAL INFORMATION  •  SECTION II POLICIES  •  SECTION III STANDARDS AND CRITERIA  •  GLOSSARY

ACEN Accreditation Manual – Section II Policies

POLICY #2
Representation on Site Visit Teams, Evaluation Review Panels, and the Board of Commissioners

Site visit teams and the Evaluation Review Panels are composed of nurse educators/clinicians, nurse clinicians/practitioners, and/or administrators. The ACEN Board of Commissioners is composed of nurse educators/clinicians, nurse clinicians/practitioners, administrators, and members of the public.

NURSE EDUCATOR/CLINICIAN

A nurse educator/clinician is an experienced, licensed nurse clinician/practitioner who also has academic expertise in evidence-based teaching of practical, diploma, associate, baccalaureate, master’s, post-master’s certificate, clinical doctorate, and/or DNP specialist certificate nursing education programs. The nurse educator/clinician teaches, guides, and instructs the next generation of nurse clinicians/practitioners in classroom, laboratory, simulation, and/or nursing practice settings. The nurse educator/clinician also has expertise and accountability for academic control of the program through participation in designing, revising, implementing, and evaluating nursing curriculum to educate nursing students in preparation for contemporary clinical nursing practice.

Nurse educators/clinicians are individuals who:

  1. Currently hold a full-time or part-time faculty or administrative employment in an ACEN-accredited program.
  2. Previously held a full-time or part-time faculty or administrative employment in an ACEN-accredited program and has been retired for no more than two years from this position.

Nurse educators/clinicians are eligible to serve on a site visit team as a team member or team chair, the Evaluation Review Panel as a member, and the ACEN Board of Commissioners. Nurse educators/clinicians elected to the ACEN Board of Commissioners may serve as chair of an Evaluation Review Panel. The chair is responsible for facilitating the ERP proceedings and has no voting rights.

NURSE CLINICIAN/PRACTITIONER

A nurse clinician/practitioner is a licensed nurse who currently holds employment in a nursing practice position. Nursing practice is broad and encompasses a range of employment settings and role responsibilities. Examples include, but are not limited to bedside nursing in acute, chronic, and community settings; advanced practice nurses in any specialty; nurse educators in any level of a nursing education program; and nurses in administrative positions.

Nurse clinicians/practitioners are individuals who:

  1. Currently hold full-time or part-time employment in a nursing practice position.
  2. Previously held full-time or part-time employment in a nursing practice position and has been retired for no more than two years from this position.

Nurse clinicians/practitioners are eligible to serve on a site visit team as a team member or team chair, Evaluation Review Panel as a member, and the ACEN Board of Commissioners. Nurse clinicians/practitioners elected to the ACEN Board of Commissioners may serve as chair of an Evaluation Review Panel. The chair is responsible for facilitating the ERP proceedings and has no voting rights.

ADMINISTRATOR

An administrator is an individual who has administrative oversight for an ACEN-accredited nursing education program (e.g., nurse administrator, coordinator, or documented administrative responsibilities within a governing organization).

Administrators are individuals who:

  1. Currently hold full-time or part-time employment providing administrative oversight for an ACEN-accredited nursing education program.
  2. Previously held full-time or part-time employment providing administrative oversight for an ACEN-accredited nursing education program and has been retired for no more than two years from this position.

Administrators are eligible to serve on a site visit team as a team member or team chair, Evaluation Review Panel as a member, and the ACEN Board of Commissioners. Administrators elected to the ACEN Board of Commissioners may serve as chair of an Evaluation Review Panel. The chair is responsible for facilitating the ERP proceedings and has no voting rights.

PUBLIC MEMBERS

Public members are individuals with no connection to the discipline of nursing. An individual representing the public may not be:

  1. An employee, owner, or shareholder of a governing organization with any accredited or non-accredited nursing program or candidate/applicant nursing program;
  2. A member of the governing board for a governing organization with any accredited or non-accredited nursing program or candidate/applicant nursing program;
  3. A consultant to any accredited or non-accredited nursing program or candidate/applicant nursing program;
  4. Affiliated or associated with any nursing accreditation agency or nursing organization, such as the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), American Nurses Association (ANA), or National League for Nursing (NLN); or
  5. A spouse, parent, child, or sibling of an individual identified in the above statements.

Public members are eligible to serve on the ACEN Board of Commissioners. Public members elected to the ACEN Board of Commissioners may serve as chair of an Evaluation Review Panel and a special member on a site visit team. The chair is responsible for facilitating the ERP proceedings and has no voting rights.

EMERITI PEER EVALUATOR

Emeritus appointment is recognition of the ongoing engagement and maintenance of expertise in the ACEN peer review process.

An emeriti peer evaluator has had consistent service as an ACEN peer evaluator in the nurse educator/clinician, nurse clinician/practitioner, or administrator role; or is a current or former ACEN employee. A nurse educator/clinician, nurse clinician/practitioner, or administrator peer evaluator is eligible for emeriti status if they have had consistent positive feedback from ACEN staff, other peer evaluators, and/or nurse administrators.

Emeriti peer evaluators whose service was as an ACEN peer evaluator in the nurse educator/clinician, nurse clinician/practitioner, or administrator role are eligible to serve on a site visit team as a team member or team chair, or Evaluation Review Panel as a member. All emeriti peer evaluators may serve as chair of an Evaluation Review Panel. The chair is responsible for facilitating the ERP proceedings and has no voting rights.

Emeritus status can be granted:

  1. two years after retirement from full-time or part-time employment in an educator/clinician or administrator role in an ACEN-accredited program;
  2. two years after retirement from full-time or part-time employment in a clinician/practitioner role; or
  3. throughout employment as an ACEN employee or upon leaving the ACEN as an employee.

The ACEN Chief Executive Officer reserves the right to appoint one or more special members who may not be a nurse educator/clinician, clinician/practitioner, or administrator to (1) a site visit team or (2) an Evaluation Review Panel. The special member or members may have expertise in an area that a nurse educator/clinician, clinician/practitioner, or administrator typically would not have. The governing organization/nursing program is responsible for all costs of the special members serving on the site visit team.

The ACEN Chief Executive Officer reserves the right to:

  1. Have an ACEN staff member accompany a site visit team as an advisor. If an ACEN staff member accompanies a site visit team in this capacity, the staff member would offer guidance to the peer evaluators. The governing organization/nursing program is responsible for all costs of the staff member accompanying the site visit team.
  2. Have an ACEN staff member serve on a site visit team as team chair and/or team member. If an ACEN staff member serves on a site visit team, the staff member would serve as an emeriti peer evaluator. The governing organization/nursing program is responsible for all costs of the professional staff member serving on the site visit team. 

Policy #2 History
Revised November 2015
Revised October 2016
Edited March 2019
Edited July 2019
Revised July 2022

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