FORT WORTH (April 3, 2017) — JPS Health Network, Tarrant County’s publicly supported health care system, celebrated a collaboration on March 31, with Tarleton State University to prepare the hospital’s nurse residency program for accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
JPS and Tarleton nursing leaders have met monthly since 2015 to create the curriculum and evaluation process required for CCNE accreditation, along with program goals and outcomes. Friday’s celebration marks the culmination of those meetings, with the CCNE accreditation process for JPS’ nurse residency program set to begin this fall.
“For more than 100 years, JPS Health Network has provided expert medical care to Tarrant County families,” said President and CEO Robert Earley. “Our collaboration with Tarleton State University to gain CCNE accreditation supports our ongoing commitment to quality healthcare and ensures that our resident nurses have the ultimate opportunity to successfully transfer from academic education to practice.”
“The Tarleton nursing program has helped meet the need for highly-qualified registered nurses in North Texas since 1976, with many of our graduates now working at JPS,” said Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio. “This nurse residency collaboration with JPS adds to our growing presence in Tarrant County and enhances the excitement building around groundbreaking ceremonies planned later this year for our new Chisolm Trail campus.”
According to Dr. Susan M. Rugari, head of Tarleton’s nursing program, when students graduate from nursing school, their education is ongoing.
“As graduate nurses start their careers, the development process of moving from novice to experienced professional begins,” she said. “That’s the purpose of hospital-based nurse residency programs—like that at JPS—to help new nurses successfully make that transition. CCNE accreditation of the residency program fosters the best nursing care possible for those the hospital serves.”
Established in 1998 by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, CCNE accredits both hospital-based nurse residency and academic nursing degree programs. Hospital-based programs must collaborate with a CCNE-accredited academic program to fulfill accreditation requirements.
Tarleton’s nursing degree programs—bachelor’s and master’s—are CCNE accredited.
Nursing graduates must complete the JPS residency program as part of the health network’s employment requirements.
“We want our nurses to deliver quality, patient-centered care,” explained Carin Adams, manager of the JPS nurse residency program, “and to be committed to the lifelong learning that nursing requires. That learning involves much more than sitting and listening. With the help of Tarleton State University, we’ve created a residency curriculum that provides hands-on and small-group learning with some of the best nursing professionals in Texas.”
For more information on JPS Health Network, visit www.jpshealthnet.org.
To learn more about Tarleton’s nursing program, go to www.tarleton.edu/nursing.
About JPS Health Network
JPS Health Network is the publicly supported healthcare system providing medical services to Tarrant County residents. The network includes an acute care hospital, more than 40 primary and specialty care health centers, including 20 school-based clinics, and the county’s only psychiatric emergency center and Level 1 trauma center. JPS is home to 18 clinical residency and fellowship programs, including the largest hospital-based family medicine residency in the United States.
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