The Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE) is a partnership of community colleges and public and private university schools of nursing. 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. 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 populations.

• The guiding principle that each individual school retains full responsibility and accountability for the nursing program,
• A collaborative process for consensus about a shared curriculum, and agreements that are needed to support the shared curriculum,
• A shared, competency-based integrated curriculum culminating in a bachelor’s degree. When students have achieved the competencies for the current RN Scope of Practice, they may earn an associate degree in nursing, meeting the education requirements to sit for the RN licensure examination. Coursework and clinical experiences for the full four-year program will be available through any campus of the consortium using distance delivery from baccalaureate programs, joint faculty appointments, and other means to offer upper division coursework.
• Improved utilization of clinical facilities and faculty expertise in Oregon, through collaborative planning for clinical experiences, joint faculty appointments and shared expertise in instructional design.
• A new clinical education model that will align learning experiences and instructional strategies with the established competencies,
• Development and use of state-of-the-art clinical simulation to augment on-site clinical training, making use of shared instructional materials.
• Simulation laboratories strategically located and available to each partner school and a network arrangement for shared simulation expertise and materials,
• Shared agreements for student support services that facilitate students’ financial aid, co-admission, dual enrollment and ADA accommodation.
• Shared agreements for academic standards including admission criteria, progress and graduation standards.
• Shared purchasing power to equip laboratories, hire consultants for faculty development and other needed improvements

• Consortium partnership has been defined as two forms—full and associate. Full partners have committed to implementing the new nursing curriculum at their campuses. Associate partners provide advisory input into the new curriculum but have no current plans to implement the new curriculum. Eight of 14 community colleges and OHSU have signed an intergovernmental agreement for full partnership.
• The curriculum has been developed, including agreements on prerequisites to the nursing major, graduate competencies, and course descriptions and outcomes. Rubrics and benchmarks have been developed and are being pilot tested by faculty throughout the first implementation of the curriculum. Course teams have developed syllabi for all courses, including modules, mega-cases, and work on multiple learning activities. Nursing faculty on all partner campuses have approved the curriculum framework, nursing course descriptions and outcomes, competency rubrics and benchmarks.
• Faculty development is underway through a post-masters certificate program on instructional design. In addition to instructional design, the certificate program includes courses on simulation, clinical teaching, and course design. This program is open to current faculty as well as to persons aspiring to a teaching career. Other faculty development activities have included work on competency based curriculum development and teaching, development and use of rubrics in teaching, case development and case-based learning, learner-centered teaching, teaching for evidence based practice and clinical judgment. A newly developed masters program at OHSU will prepare candidates for faculty roles with a clinical emphasis in community or gerontological nursing, two areas of high need.
• Academic Standards were approved by all full partner schools and the steering committee in May 2005, and used to guide the selection process for students in consortium schools. Those standards are reviewed annually for any needed modifications. Proposals for change are reviewed on all partner campuses and approved in October each year to guide selection for the next year's cohort.
• Student services proposed policies for dual enrollment were developed to facilitate financial aid and to support co-admission.

Reviewed and modified, May 23, 2007.