By Jonathan Baca , Copy Editor
Nursing major, Aliishea Flook has been working to get into the competitive Nursing program at CNM for four years now, she said.
And because of the recent changes to curriculum, eligibility requirements and the coordinated entry process, Flook said she has struggled to pass many classes that are no longer required, and although she originally intended to just get an associate degree, she has ended up taking a lot of classes that are only required for a bachelor’s.
She said she only has enough financial aid to pay for 25 more credit hours, and worries she won’t be able to afford school much longer, that is if she manages to get into the program at all.
Flook said there are many other students like her, who have been caught in the middle of a Nursing program that changes from year to year dramatically, and who are all competing for a very limited number of coveted spots.
“I do appreciate the fact that I do have all those classes under my belt, but at the same time I feel like I’ve kind of wasted my time and I’m not really where I want to be. And now my financial aid is almost drained, so I’m sitting back and thinking, what am I going to do?” Flook said.
Diane Evans-Prior, Director of the Nursing Program said that CNM, along with every nursing program in the state, has been transitioning as part of the New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium (NMNEC), which was created to standardize curriculum and eligibility requirements and to make it easier for students to transfer to other schools.
“It will ultimately result in the increase in the number with of nurses, especially those bachelor’s degrees. This is not just good for students at CNM, it is important to the entire state. CNM is proud to be a first implementer,” Evans-Prior said.
For the last few semesters, both the old and new pro¬grams were running simultaneously at CNM, and the number of open slots for new Nursing students was drastically reduced, leaving students like Flook in a kind of limbo.
Amanda Lopez, Program Coordinator for the Office of Coordinated Entry said the process of getting into the program has changed dramatically as well, in an attempt to help with some of the challenges that students like Flook have been dealing with since the changes have been made.
But beginning this fall, the new program will be fully implemented, and will go from 24 back up to 64 slots for new students, with the goal of increasing by eight slots each semester as new instructors are hired, Lopez said.
Instead of the old petition process, where students with the highest GPAs and exam scores had a better chance of getting in, there will now be a pre-registration screening process, where all students who meet the minimum requirements and fill out the pre-registration form will be cleared and given the chance to register, Lopez said.
Students have from May 23 to June 23 to fill out the form on the school’s Coordinated Entry website, and will be told within two weeks if they meet the requirements, and will then be given a registration date, she said.
“All students who meet the minimum requirements will have an equal opportunity to register for the program,” Evans-Prior said.
There are still a limited number of open slots, how¬ever, and they will be given out on a first-come-first-served basis, so there is still no guarantee that a qualified student will get in on their first try, she said.
There is also a new option for what Evans- Prior called the “highly, highly qualified students.”
CNM is teaming up with UNM to offer a Bachelor of Nursing degree, where students will take many of their Nursing classes at CNM and pay cheaper tuition before transferring to UNM to finish their degrees, and these slots will be reserved for students with the highest GPAs and test scores, Lopez said.
Another issue they are trying to fix is that in order to get the earliest registration dates, students used to have to be currently enrolled, which meant that many students were stuck taking classes they did not really need in order to get the best registration time.
Flook said this was the reason she had continued to take classes and use up her financial aid.
Now, once students meet the minimum requirements and fill out the pre-registration form, they will be able to get an early registration date and time, regardless of whether they are currently enrolled, allowing students like Flook to save their money for the actual Nursing pro¬gram classes, Evans-Prior said.
Flook said in response to the efforts made by the Nursing department that “It sounds like they’re trying, responding to all the complaints. I think that would probably be beneficial and could give people that little glimmer of hope to continue to try.”
Evans-Prior said she empathizes with students who have not been able to get in because of limited space and the transition, and she hopes that they will keep trying.
“My overall message to these students is one of per¬severance. Tenacity is a noble trait in a nurse—one we cannot teach. Look at options. Make informed decisions. Stick it out. The profession is worth the pursuit,” Evans- Prior said.
Although Flook said she has become very frustrated with this process and has considered switching majors, she still dreams of becoming a nurse, and hopes that these changes will give her the chance to fulfill her goals.
“I do hope and pray that someday I will get that opportunity to just be where I want to be, which is helping people and being a caregiver in a career that I enjoy. I just wish so much that I was working by now,” Flook said.
Tag: Nursing Program
Students frustrated with new Nursing Program entry process
By Jonathan Baca, Copy Editor
Starting in the spring 2014 semester, the Nursing program will begin implementing the newly created New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium (NMNEC) curriculum, and the switch has left many students who hope to get in to the program with nowhere to go, said Pre Health Sciences major Theresa Villanueva.
The change only affects students who are applying for the popular program for the first time starting next semester, and the new rules and regulations have effectively cut the number of new students allowed to 24 students, said program director Diane Evans-Prior, and this has left many hopeful students in a kind of educational limbo.
“I’m just kind of keeping my fingers crossed that I get into these classes. I’ve been just kind of going with the flow for now to see how it goes,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva said she has been planning to get into the Nursing program for years, finishing all the prerequisites and preparing to take the required Health Education Systems, Inc. (HESI) exam, only to discover that there was no room for her in the new program.
In addition, many classes she struggled to complete are no longer required under the new curriculum, she said.
“There’s just not enough space in the program, there’s people waiting on the list, and you take all these labs, and now you don’t even need the labs. So that was kind of a waste of time for me, because it took me forever to get through those,” Villanueva said.
Under the old system, which will be phased out over the next few semesters, students had to petition to get into the program, Evans-Prior said, and all the qualified students who had already petitioned before the change were still able to get in and will be the last group to complete the program under the old curriculum.
But for all the new students who meet the requirements, who are all vying for the coveted 24 positions, there are no guarantees that they will ever get in, said Pre- Health Advisor Nora Mendoza.
“The careers in the medical field are very, very popular. We’re the pipeline, but we’re only so wide. Slowly, our nursing program is going to be growing, but not at the rate that our demand is,” Mendoza said.
For the spring and summer semesters, entry into the program is being conducted with an open registration for Nursing 1010 and 1015, where the students with the most credit hours completed got the first shot at registering, Mendoza said.
For this spring, registration opened at 6 a.m., and the two sections were completely filled in two minutes, Mendoza said.
For the dozens of students like Villanueva who were not able to get in, the plans they had been making for years suddenly had to be changed at the last minute, Villanueva said.
“I’m still going to do it until I get in there, but hopefully it will be sooner than later. Hard work pays off eventually, but some people just give up when it’s too hard to get in,” Villanueva said.
Beginning next fall, the entry procedure will change — yet again — to a pre-registration screening process, where all qualified students will be screened by the department and placed into a pool, Mendoza said.
This pool will have a specially designated registration date and time, and just like the open registration method, the first students in the pool who manage to register for Nursing 1010 and 1015 will be guaranteed entry into the program, but the students who do not make it in will have to try again the next semester, Mendoza said.
“There are no guarantees, for any of our programs. We’re hoping with this pre-registration screening form that we make it open to everyone who meets the minimum requirements,” Mendoza said.
While this method gives more people the opportunity to get in, it also does not favor those students with the best grades and the highest HESI scores, making it difficult for those students who are the most dedicated to plan for their future, Villanueva said.
“I think they need to figure out a better way to weed out the people who aren’t really serious about the program, because the people who are serious, it turns many people away,” Villanueva said.
Another issue is the new rules surrounding the HESI exam, which has to be passed before a student is even qualified to register, Mendoza said.
In the past, a student’s results on the test were valid for five years, but now they will only be valid for one year, Mendoza said.
This means that if a student cannot get into the program in that year, they will have to pay the fee again to retake the exam, and they are still not guaranteed a spot, Villanueva said.
Evans-Prior said that the new program had to be so limited in size for several reasons.
First, she said, the brand new curriculum requires a totally new approach to teaching, and the smaller group of 24 students is more ideal for gathering the feedback that instructors will need to go forward.
Second, according to the new regulations created by the New Mexico State Board of Nursing, an instructor to student ratio of 1 to 8 is required while in a clinical setting.
The number of clinical sites available is also limited, Evans-Prior said.
“We know. We know that there are a lot of students out there that want seats. Our issue is that we have probably two to three qualified students for every one nursing seat,” she said.
Evans-Prior said that since the program will be operating with one group using the old curriculum alongside the new group learning the NMNEC curriculum, size of the new group had to remain small.
But as the old program is phased out, the school plans to slowly increase the number of new students accepted, she said.
“We are planning some very controlled growth, and we should be seeing those numbers increasing. Our five-year goal is to get back up to about 96 students three times a year. We can move that up as we add faculty and clinical sites,” Evans-Prior said.
In the meantime, Villanueva said she still plans on doing whatever she can to get into the program.
“Hopefully it gets better, because I’m almost there and I don’t want to have to give it up. But I feel bad for the people who don’t have the strength to get through,” Villanueva said.
Avoid Last Second Immunizations
Nick Stern, Staff Reporter | Photo By Nick Stern
Almost every student who goes through health, wellness and public safety programs needs immunizations for their own well-being and the safety of patients that students come into contact with during clinical rotations, said registered nurse, Patti Haaland of the CNM Student Health and Wellness Center.
There is a strongly set plan that roughly 650 students in health professions, all across CNM campuses, must adhere to in order to qualify and be accepted for clinical rotations, she said.
Many students end up getting too close to the student immunizations deadline and end up causing more stress for themselves and for the people who give the immunizations at the Student Health and Wellness Center, she said.
“It has been frustrating for students who are at the deadline for immunizations. If students are enrolled in health occupations they should check their emails because instructors will email them telling them to get their immunizations in order at the beginning of the term. This way we do not have people lined up out the door and we can leave when our shift is done at 5 p.m. and not be here at ten until 5 p.m. with people lined out the door trying to get their immunizations,” Haaland said.
It can take a week to 10 days to see if people have the required immunizations and students can get very scared and frustrated when they have worked hard to get accepted in to a program and are facing the possibility of getting kicked out because they are out of time to get results, she said.
“I cannot tell you how many people have been crying in the lobby and blaming me and everybody else because they have not gotten immunizations done or have not gotten their results in. You are going in to health occupations. Own your own responsibilities. None of the health occupations tolerate blame-shifting. Take ownership,” said Haaland.
Certified family nurse practitioner and senior director of the Student Health and Wellness center at CNM, Marti Brittenham said that people who are anticipating getting in to one of the health, wellness and public safety medical professions should try to start their immunizations at least a semester before they start clinical rotations. So students will not have to stress themselves out by scrambling at the very last minute trying to figure out what they need, she said. If students do not manage to start a semester before, then students should at least start during break or the first week of the term, she said.
“The organizations that health, wellness and public safety put students into (ambulance companies, hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics) require immunizations before students can go in. It is not technically a CNM requirement but a requirement of the organizations students get put in to for their clinical rotations,” Brittenham said.
Hospitals will not allow students to come in and take care of patients without up-to-date immunization records because it is dangerous to the student and the patient and creates a liability for the hospital, she said.
An anti-body titer is a blood test that is sent to the lab and meant to tell if someone has immunity to various diseases and can tell the immunity level of the patient, she said.
“We encourage students to get their medical records, bring them in and we will tell students which immunizations, or titers, they will need. Once you know what you need it is best to get the titers done right away because they take the longest time for results,” Brittenham said.
For more information on immunization due dates health major students can call 224-4111.
A behind-the-scenes look at the changes in the Nursing Program
By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter
Editor’s Note: This story is a follow up clarification to the article in Volume 19 Issue 1, “Nursing program drops vital courses.”
CNM is partnering with UNM and NMSU in rolling out the new curriculum for the Nursing program the spring semester, 2014 said Diane Evans-Prior, Nursing Program Director.
The new program is state-wide; there are fifteen other public schools in New Mexico rolling out this new curriculum, and CNM is the first to do so at the community college level, she said.
The changes have been in the works since 2009 and are ready to be implemented, she said.
“The college has to adapt to changing trends in education, to what our community partners are looking for in an entry-level Nursing practitioner,” she said.
Nursing has changed from what it was ten years ago or even five years ago and the curriculum has to adapt and evolve to reflect those changes in Nursing itself, she said.
“The major change is not that we are eliminating requirements or lowering standards, but we are increasing accessibility to the program itself,” she said.
The current curriculum requires a lengthy number of required classes and the classes did not get removed, but are now integrated into the program itself to be done in later terms, she said.
“Students would drop classes and retake them, one, two, three times because their grade is not good enough. What is this doing for progression? By the time students finally start the program, the minimum number of semesters is eight. The reality? Twelve to fifteen. Students should be getting a master’s degree at the end of that, not an associate degree,” she said.
This is not unique to CNM and the model for the program is echoed throughout the country, she said. The new curriculum is intended to make the Nursing program a lot more accessible, she said. Students can now finish the requirements in two semesters, or one, but that is more difficult, she said.
The basic proficiencies have not changed, nor has the required percentage for the HESI exam, she said. If anything, standards have increased a bit since the GPA requirement was raised from 2.5 to 2.75, she said.
Now if the students have enough credits and have met the other requirements, they can register for the new classes, she said. As a result, it will be more like the other programs CNM offers, she said.
Students can now start the basic core courses and take Anatomy & Physiology II and Developmental Psychology concurrently with their Nursing classes, she said.
The core courses in the Nursing program historically have not been enough to make full-time so our students have had difficulty meeting their financial aid requirements, she said.
“The really exciting thing is that we are fully partnered with UNM and NMSU now so all of our classes that are applicable to a Bachelor’s of Nursing will transfer completely,” she said. That is a total of 96 credit hours that CNM offers that will transfer for a B.S.N. that requires about 120 credit hours, she said.
“Students can get those credits at CNM and may enroll at UNM, which means students will be able to graduate with both an associate and a bachelor’s,” she said.
“We will offer this with the first group in 2014, but there are a few fine details to finish,” she said.
Nursing Program drops vital courses
By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter
According to CNM’s website, the requirements for gaining entry into the Nursing program are being reduced and access to the program will be offered on a first come, first served basis starting in the spring of 2014. Students expressed differing opinions on whether or not these changes will be for the better.
The requirements to enter into the Nursing program have dropped from 15 required courses to six courses, while courses being removed from the curriculum are Chemistry, Nutrition and some Biology courses which were cut down from 5 to 2 required classes.
The school will also no longer have an application process to apply for the program, and instead students will be required to register for NRSG 1010: Introduction to Nursing Concepts and NRSG 1015: Principles of Nursing Practice to be eligible for the nursing program, according to the CNM website and course catalogs from 2013 to 2014.
Mary Langois, Nursing majo,r said “The question is: Which nurse do you want working on you; the one with an A average or the one with a C average?”
The other side of the issue is that there are some people who do not test well but excel when it comes to the hands-on part of the job, she said.
“I have seen it as a practicing paramedic; where people who work in the medical field have the book smarts. They are A students, but they cannot actually apply the information to help their patients. I am kind of torn on this because I have seen both in people,” said Langois.
Nursing major Dana Broadway said she does not have any real problem with the changes being made to the program.
While it does seem odd that they would lower the standards and reduce your ability to enter the program only when you are able to register, and there is not much that can be done about it, she said
Consistency is good in terms of entry to the program, but the changes do not seem like they are needed, she said.
Broadway said, “I cannot control the changes they make; I can only control how I react to it. Mostly I am going to have to hope that luck is on my side.” According to nmned. org, these changes are being made to allow for increased efficiency in transferring nursing students between colleges, as well as bringing CNM’s program in alignment with the standards of New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium curriculum which will, “Improve efficiency, quality, and educational outcomes of nursing education through cooperation among community colleges,”.