Benchworks Announces Fourth Annual Nursing Education Impact Awards Winners

[MarisaBluestone]

Dominican University New York, King University and Thomas Jefferson University recognized for commitment to improving nursing education 

New York, NY. October 21, 2022 --  Nursing shortages and burnout remain an ongoing problem for the healthcare community, with 80 percent of nurses saying their units are inadequately staffed. To help solve for the shortages Nurse.org's State of Nursing Report recommends, among other solutions, ongoing investment in nursing education. For the fourth year, Skyfactor Benchworks, a Macmillan Learning brand, is awarding the Assessment and Impact Awards for Nursing Education to recognize and celebrate the innovative ways that nursing schools are creating positive education experiences within their programs.

Skyfactor Benchworks, which provides research-based program benchmarking and assessments, established the Assessment and Impact Awards for Nursing Education to highlight nursing schools that are successfully using data to improve their programs. Many of the top nursing programs use assessments to drive decisions that help students learn and prepare for their nursing careers. The data helps nursing education programs prepare nursing graduates to understand how to help care for patients as well as work collaboratively and effectively with other health professionals. Skyfactor Benchworks recognized three such programs during this year’s American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) conference in October 2022. 

This year’s winners focused on retaining students and developing more practice-ready nursing professionals by fostering connections between students and faculty, using technology to stay in touch with students, and integrating active learning, among other activities. The three programs that have been awarded the Assessment and Impact Award for Nursing are: Dominican University New York, Thomas Jefferson University and King University.

• Dominican University New York was recognized for significant improvements in student satisfaction with the quality of nursing instruction, facilities and administration. Despite restrictions brought on by the pandemic, the university’s faculty worked to maintain one-on-one connections with students; they also purchased a mobile simulation lab to both provide instruction for students and to take into the community to care for underserved populations.
  
• King University was recognized for high performance related to student satisfaction with the quality of nursing instruction. The program focused on student success during college and post graduation by implementing more active learning strategies, providing better feedback to students, and creating a post-graduate mentorship program to support students’ career development, among other improvements.
  
• Thomas Jefferson University was recognized for significant improvement to students’ overall satisfaction with the program. After data identified faculty responsiveness and the need for more student feedback as areas of concern for students, the nursing program implemented a range of new initiatives, including faculty training, updated grading rubrics, revising course evaluations, and use of technology to better engage students with faculty. 

“Nurses provide hands-on care, support and treatment for people when they’re at their most vulnerable, and successful nursing education creates nurses who are ready for that incredible challenge. Our team is pleased to recognize Dominican University New York, King University and Thomas Jefferson University as being best-in-class in listening to the needs of nursing students and teaching them how to deliver safe, quality patient care,” said Steven Ray, Vice President of Enterprise Solutions, Macmillan Learning. 

The three winners were selected using a multi-step evaluation process that included an analysis of multi-year assessment data by the Benchworks Analytics and Research Team.  The programs selected had the best results or best increases in performance as determined by survey scores.

Skyfactor Benchworks assessments are the most widely used programs in nursing education and have been available for nearly 25 years. The various Benchworks Nursing assessments are used by more than 250 nursing programs each year and are one of more than 50 different assessments from Benchworks on topics important to college success, including housing, orientation, and student affairs and service. The surveys include questions regarding student happiness, safety, diversity and inclusion, facilities, costs, sense of community, and time management, among others.

Past winners of the Assessment and Impact Awards for Nursing Education include Bloomfield College, Colorado Technical University,  Montclair State University, Rowan University, The University of Scranton, Seton Hall University, University of South Florida, Southern Utah University, and Texas Christian University. 

To learn more about this year’s winners, click here. To learn more about the power of benchmarking for nursing programs, visit Skyfactor Benchworks’ website. 

About Skyfactor Benchworks 

Skyfactor Benchworks is a Macmillan Learning company that provides research-based program assessments and benchmarking for a variety of Student Affairs programs, as well as Business Education, Engineering, Nursing, and Teacher Education. The robust analytics Benchworks empowers programs to identify areas of improvement for maximum impact on program success. Benchworks assessments are rooted in research and mapped to accreditation and professional standards.

About Macmillan Learning

Macmillan Learning is a privately-held, family-owned company that improves lives through learning. By linking research to learning practice, we develop pioneering products and learning materials for students that are highly effective and drive improved outcomes. Our engaging content is developed in partnership with the world's best authors, researchers, educators, administrators, and developers. Visit macmillanlearning.com or join our Macmillan Community.