- About OCNE
The Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE) is a partnership of community colleges and public and private university schools of nursing. OCNE is one mechanism by which Oregon nursing programs can dramatically expand their capacity and enrollment, and prepare graduates of these programs with the competencies to address the rapidly changing health care needs of Oregon's aging and ethnically diverse population.
The OCNE is engaging in a magnitude of change that is transformative in nature. Although other programs and systems have used components of this model (e.g., competency-based education, case-based instruction, articulation between associate degree and baccalaureate programs), never has one explicitly combined best practices in curriculum and instruction, state-of-the-art educational technology, competencies based on assessment of emerging health care needs of a population, mechanisms to share faculty expertise in a consortial arrangement; coadmission of students to associate and baccalaureate degree programs, and collaborative efforts to create new clinical education approaches, all in an effort to better prepare graduates and to accommodate an increased number of students.This comprehensive and collaborative effort is unprecedented in the United States and is increasingly viewed by health care and nursing education leaders as a model that could be adapted to achieve similar goals across the country. If this project is successful in achieving its goals, there are a number of substantial policy implications—for development of nursing education systems, design of curricula, use of simulation as a component of clinical education, and delivery of clinical education.
- Article by Chris Tanner, et al: The Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education -
A Response to the Nursing Shortage
Click below to see a short video describing OCNE.
- The Need
- The Consortium was formed as part of the 2001 Strategic Plan of the Oregon Nursing Leadership council (ONLC) in response to the critical nursing shortage. With the average age of a nurse in Oregon at 48 and many others indicating plans for retirement within the next five years, Oregon faces a workforce crisis. By 2025, when these nurses reach retirement age, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that Oregon will have the fourth highest proportion of elders in the nation.
- The Model
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Through collaboration with the participating schools, the OCNE has developed- a common competency-based curriculum,
- simulation laboratories in partner schools,
- faculty trained to deliver the OCNE curriculum, and
- a new clinical education model.
Students now have
- common admission standards;
- shared application process including financial aid and dual enrollment;
- transferability between the partner schools;
- an associate degree exit option;
- baccalaureate degree options;
- the opportunity to remain in their home location;
- access to simulation training;
- opportunities to participate in coursework through distance delivery; and
- opportunities to complete a secondary focus area of study, with upper division courses that support competent nursing practices.
- OCNE Guiding Principle ...
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Each individual school retains full responsibility and accountability. OCNE coordinates development and consensus for the curriculum, as well as academic and student service policies, which require the same review and approval process within each campus as if they were being proposed solely within the school. Through interinstitutional agreements, each full partner school agrees to implement the shared curriculum and policies, and to work within OCNE for evaluation and any necessary modification.