The nursing department received specialized care Feb. 10-12.

Evaluators from the National League of Nursing Accreditation Commission visited the nursing department to evaluate the baccalaureate.

Dr. Barbara Box, head of the nursing department, said the process for accreditation is not complete.

“One of the aspects of accreditation is it is not immediate,” Box said.

Box said to achieve accreditation the department has to go through three steps. The first step, after submitting the application and self-study report, is to have the evaluators come to campus. Box said when the evaluators made the trip to campus only half of the first step was done. After the evaluators visit the campus, they write a report and submit it to the commission. She said the report can make or break the process.

“Their report is really substantial to the whole process … (along with) the statistical analysis that the accreditation agency has done, usually they’re very similar,” Box said.

After the report the process can move onto the second step of the process. The second step involves a review panel, made up of “very noted nursing persons.” The panel takes the self-study report and reviews with the evaluators on standby in case any questions arise. This step of the process does not happen until July in Miami Beach, Fla.

The last step of the process is approval from the NLNAC. The NLNAC will not decide on the matter until early August.

Box said she believes the process will go in favor of Missouri Southern.

“Based on the analysis they’ve done previously with program evaluators reports, the review panels and commission, I think that we are going to be very successful,” Box said. “The report we had was very, very positive.”

Box said when the evaluators were on campus they looked at all aspects of the nursing program while they were at Missouri Southern.

“They evaluate us, while they are here, with our self-study report,” she said. “The team of two, Dr. Beverly Craig and Dr. Rebecca Burris, had to complete their work in a short period of time.”

Box said what Craig and Burris were doing was “verifying, amplifying and providing explanations to our self-study report.” The nursing department provided enough documentation to set aside a reading room for the evaluators. The

documents included: minutes of committees, program evaluation forms, the department’s mission statement and contractual agreements.

“They did all of that to make sure we did what we said we would,” Box said.

She said the accreditation will help the department recruit students.

“The students are pretty savvy coming in,” Box said.

“They are asking questions like: ‘Is the program accredited?’ Somewhere along the line they know there should be some standard that we have met nationally.”

She said the faculty tells the students the program is accredited, because they match up with other institutions.

“We meet standards that are national and we’re equivalent to all other programs in the nation who are accredited by the same accrediting agency,” Box said.

Box believes the accreditation will not only bring in more students to the nursing department, but will bring in more students to the University. She said the accreditation is a plus and it is something Southern can use to its advantage.