On Undergoing the Nursing Education Accreditation | Satoko Nagata, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
May 14, 2024
The Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care is undergoing a program-specific accreditation by the Japan Accreditation Board for Nursing Education (JABNE) in the 2024 academic year. We submitted a draft of our self-inspection and evaluation report at the end of March 2024, and after receiving feedback from the board, the final submission is scheduled for May 2024, just as I am writing this article. In October 2024, we are scheduled to have a site visit from the accreditation committee members to the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care Building, which will include a site survey with interviews with students and junior faculty members, as well as class observations. As the chairperson of the faculty's inspection and evaluation committee, I am involved in this process with the tremendous cooperation of everyone involved.
Currently, under the School Education Act, all national, public, and private universities, junior colleges, and colleges of technology are required to periodically undergo a third-party evaluation (institutional certified evaluation and accreditation) by an evaluation organization certified by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). According to the MEXT website, this certified evaluation and accreditation system was introduced to establish a framework for periodically reviewing the status of organizational management and educational and research activities at universities and other institutions, with the aim of ensuring the quality of their education and research. Keio University underwent an evaluation by the Japan University Accreditation Association (JUAA), one of the certified evaluation organizations, in 2019. According to the JUAA website, this evaluation is conducted based on ten standards: "Philosophy and Mission," "Internal Quality Assurance," "Educational and Research Organization," "Curriculum and Learning Outcomes," "Student Admission," "Faculty and Faculty Organization," "Student Support," "Educational and Research Environment," "Social Cooperation and Contribution," and "University Management and Finance."
On the other hand, the "program-specific accreditation" that the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care is currently undergoing focuses on evaluation criteria specific to nursing education, which are not necessarily examined in the so-called "institutional accreditation" that evaluates the university as a whole. It assesses specific points necessary for the nursing curriculum and its implementation. According to the JABNE website, four evaluation standards have been established: "Framework of the Nursing Curriculum Based on Educational Philosophy and Goals," "Educational and Learning Activities in the Nursing Curriculum," "Evaluation and Reform of the Nursing Curriculum," and "Student Selection for the Nursing Curriculum." For example, regarding the educational philosophy and goals, the evaluation assesses whether the faculty's philosophy and goals are aligned with the founding purpose and spirit of the university. It also includes evaluating whether the curriculum is structured with courses that effectively teach the fundamentals of nursing. In other words, the evaluation examines how the faculty integrates and realizes its vision as part of the entire university with its role as an institution for basic nursing education.
In preparing the self-inspection and evaluation report this time, we were able to reaffirm the characteristics and strengths of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care. The Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care has established a diploma policy with five pillars: "Foundational Human Skills," "Professional Nursing and Medical Skills," "Collaborative and Cooperative Skills," "Skills for Global Activity," and "Skills to Initiate Change." This policy reflects our faculty's approach to teaching the fundamentals of nursing while embracing the Keio University principle of "striving to be a leader." In terms of curriculum, one of our faculty's strengths is that in addition to courses that teach the latest knowledge in areas like advanced medical care, courses that facilitate international exchange, and the "Inter-Professional Education Program" that promotes learning about interprofessional collaboration, students can also take courses from other faculties, including those from the Faculty of Policy Management and the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies. On the other hand, as the content required for basic nursing education becomes more diverse and advanced, one of our challenges is how to guarantee diverse learning opportunities for students.
In the process of reviewing our current system against the evaluation criteria, some issues became clear, and improvements have already been made. For example, from a perspective unique to nursing education accreditation, there is a demand for improving the teaching abilities of faculty in clinical practicums and for close collaboration with clinical training facilities. In response, we have launched initiatives such as Faculty Development (FD) related to practicum instruction, including for practicum sites other than our affiliated hospitals, and a personnel exchange system with our affiliated hospitals (Keio Academic-Practice Partnership in Nursing, or KAPPN), aiming to further strengthen collaboration with practicum sites in a more organized and continuous manner.
The accreditation process involves a large amount of work and can honestly feel burdensome at times, but I realize it is a valuable opportunity to reaffirm our faculty's strengths and gain insights for resolving our challenges. After we receive the evaluation report at the end of the academic year and things have settled down, I hope to have another opportunity to report back to everyone with my thanks.