W. Va. Code R. § 10-1-8

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 10-1-8 - Program of Instruction

8.1. The program of instruction shall be 12 months in length unless the sponsoring agency administrator provides written justification for the change in program length to the board and the variance is approved by the board.

8.2. Curriculum concepts.

8.2.1. The faculty should develop the philosophy and student terminal objectives for the program. The faculty shall use these philosophy and objectives as a basis for curriculum development.

8.2.2. The faculty should plan the curriculum for the program of practical nursing to meet community nursing needs. The faculty shall consider current concepts in health care and the changing roles of all levels of nursing in developing and evaluating the curriculum.

8.2.3. The faculty shall place emphasis on development and achievement of measurable objectives for the total program based upon the recommended number of clock hours. The faculty may adapt and enrich curriculum in accordance with stated objectives, clinical resources and facilities.

8.2.4. The faculty shall utilize current educational concepts and methods of teaching including integration of content, career mobility, and individualized and competency based instruction where appropriate in the curriculum.

8.2.5. The faculty may make major curriculum changes only after written consultation with the board's Executive Secretary or the board.

8.3. Curriculum content.

8.3.1. The faculty shall develop a master plan of the curriculum and shall make the master plan available to students. The master plan shall show length and sequence of courses, areas of content to be covered and classroom and clinical settings to be used.

8.3.2. The master plan shall provide evidence that the curriculum is designed to meet the objectives of the program and shall identify that:

8.3.2.a. Classroom and clinical instruction meet the physical and psychosocial needs of all age groups;

8.3.2.b. Concurrent learning experiences in theory and clinical practice emphasize basic nursing principles and procedures related to nursing;

8.3.2.c. Clinical practice begins the third week of the program to facilitate concurrent learning;

8.3.2.d. Basic concepts of nutrition, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, mental health, communications, history and trends in nursing, vocational responsibilities, computer skills and family living are integrated into the program;

8.3.2.e. Learning is arranged to progress from simple procedures to complex procedures; and

8.3.2.f. Clinical instruction is included for medical, surgical, geriatric, mental health, maternal infant care, pharmacology, and pediatric areas.

8.3.3. The faculty shall utilize acute, long-term and community health facilities and agencies in the program if appropriate learning experiences are available. The faculty shall utilize specialty areas, such as intensive care, coronary care and emergency rooms in the program only with faculty supervision and after providing written justification to the board.

8.4. The board suggests the following subjects and combined classroom and clinical instructional hours.

Subject	Actual Instructional Time
Principles and Fundamentals	200
Social Sciences Integrated *	150
Anatomy and Physiology	60
Nutrition and Diet Therapy	40
Pharmacology	80
Medical-Surgical **	450
Geriatrics	100
Psychiatric Nursing	100
Obstetrics	60
Pediatrics	60
Total Instructional Hours	1,300

* To include ethical and legal responsibilities such as advance directives, advocacy, professional boundaries, confidentiality, client rights, organ donation, informed consent, incident reporting, resource management, scope of practice, delegation/assignment, leadership, legal standards, endorsement, continuing competence, and grounds for disciplinary action including procedures and penalties.

** To include prevention and early detection of health problems.

8.5. The faculty shall devote not less than 1/4 nor more than 1/2 of the actual instructional time to theory unless the faculty provides written justification for a waiver of the requirements for instructional time devoted to theory to the board and the waiver is approved by the board.

8.6. Delivery of instruction by distance education methods must be consistent with the program curriculum plan. Students utilizing this mode of learning must meet the goals, competencies, and objectives of the educational program and standards of the board.

8.7. At the discretion of the coordinator, the use of reputable "virtual clinical experiences" as found on the internet, CD-ROM, or other electronic media may be utilized by faculty to supplement clinical experiences which are not available or in other circumstances in which supplemental clinical information is needed; i.e., "snow days", etc. The use of "virtual clinical experiences" shall not be used to completely replace actual patient care experience for clinical instruction in any course.

8.8. Rotation plan.

8.8.1. The nurse coordinator shall develop and post a complete rotation plan for each student showing daily classroom theory content and corresponding clinical practice for all nursing practice experiences.

8.8.2. The nurse coordinator should develop the rotation plan in cooperation with the affiliating facilities and agencies, taking into consideration available clinical services, quantity and quality of supervision for students and requirements of the board.

8.8.3. The nurse coordinator and the affiliating agency may, by mutual agreement, change the established plan for rotation of students through the clinical services.

8.9. Faculty Supervision of Students.

8.9.1. The board recommends that both faculty and students carry liability insurance.

8.9.2. The program faculty shall supervise all clinical practice.

8.9.3. Faculty members shall be registered professional nurses. A licensed practical nurse may be employed by the sponsoring agency to aid the program faculty in the supervision of the students' laboratory and clinical practice provided that a registered nurse faculty member is immediately available for consultation. The sponsoring agency shall base student-teacher ratio, as specified in section 7.2. of this rule, on the number of registered professional nurse faculty members.

8.9.4. The faculty shall select clinical practice areas that offer the student the opportunity to observe and practice good nursing care. Faculties are encouraged to use West Virginia facilities. The faculty shall periodically evaluate clinical practice areas to assure that adequate experiences are available to meet program objectives.

8.9.5. The overall objective of a program is to prepare the student to provide safe and effective nursing care; however, the affiliating agency is responsible for the provision of service to patients. The nursing service needs of the patients should not take precedence over the educational needs of the student.

8.9.6. A representative of the board shall review a program's clinical facilities when new facilities are added. The sponsoring agency shall request this visit.

8.9.7. Students assigned to community agencies, i.e., clinics, nursery schools, day care centers, community health agencies, rehabilitation centers, doctors' offices, mental health centers and other available health agencies may be supervised by a licensed nurse or physician employed by that agency in lieu of a faculty member of the program, provided that the students do not provide direct patient care. The faculty shall develop written objectives for the experience. The written objectives shall relate to the overall objectives for the program.

8.9.8. Clinical preceptors may be used to enhance clinical learning experiences after the student has received theory and clinical instruction including competency demonstration in the area of the specific clinical learning experience. Preceptors shall:

8.9.8.a. Hold a current unencumbered license as either a licensed practical nurse or registered professional nurse in the state in which the clinical experience is to be held;

8.9.8.b. Have evidence of clinical competencies related to the area of assigned clinical responsibilities with students;

8.9.8.c. Serve as a role model to students;

8.9.8.d. Be assigned as a preceptor to no more than 2 students at any time;

8.9.8.e. Not be used to replace clinical instructors as faculty retains responsibility for student learning and conferring with preceptors and students for monitoring and evaluating learning experiences; and

8.9.8.f. Have documentation which will also be shared with the sponsoring agency of orientation to the program outcomes, student learning objectives, evaluation methods, and role expectations of the student, faculty, and preceptor.

8.10. Instruction.

8.10.1. The scheduled instructional time for classroom and clinical experiences shall not exceed 32 hours per week.

8.10.2. A final passing score of "C" is required in each course.

8.11. Classroom instruction.

8.11.1. The faculty shall develop and utilize a written outline for each course of instruction which includes a plan for each lesson. Each lesson shall contain behavioral objectives, an outline of lesson content, time allotment for the lesson, teaching methods, evaluation methods, visual aids and reference materials.

8.11.2. The behavioral objectives and the corresponding outline of lesson content shall be consistent with and shall contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the program.

8.11.3. The scheduled learning experiences for a unit of content shall be consistent with the master plan and rotation schedule and shall provide for concurrent clinical instruction.

8.11.4. The time allotted to each lesson shall be consistent with the content to be covered and the learning expected of the students.

8.11.5. The content of the program and teaching methods shall reflect current concepts and practices in nursing education.

8.12. Clinical instruction.

8.12.1. The faculty shall develop written objectives for each area of clinical instruction and shall contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the program. Clinical learning experiences shall:

8.12.1.a. Be concurrent with classroom instruction for a given course;

8.12.1.b. Be of adequate length to permit the instructor to modify the planned assignments to meet the needs of individual students;

8.12.1.c. Be selected by the program's faculty on the basis of their contribution to the objectives of the course and the total program;

8.12.1.d. Include instructor-student pre- and post-conferences related to the care of patients;

8.12.1.e. Include the opportunity for students to participate in staff conferences and inservice education programs;

8.12.1.f. Provide for students to assist with the preparation, implementation and continuing evaluation of the nursing care plan for individual patients; and

8.12.1.g. Provide for regular evaluation of the student's achievement utilizing measurable performance objectives.

8.12.2. The sponsoring agency shall require that a student satisfactorily achieve the clinical performance objectives to progress in the program.

8.13. Affiliation agreements.

8.13.1. When a sponsoring agency that conducts a program of practical nursing enters into any type of cooperative relationship for provision of student experiences with another agency, the sponsoring agency shall execute a written agreement with the other agency.

8.13.2. An Administrative representative of each agency concerned with the program shall meet to establish their respective responsibilities. The responsible persons of each agency shall sign an agreement before the board may grant final approval for use of the facility. Each agreement shall state clearly the responsibilities of each agency with regard to the educational program and the welfare of the student. If a program is using clinical preceptors, the agreement shall expressly state the expectations the preceptors are to fulfill. The agreement shall be available for review by the board.

8.13.3. The agreement shall include:

8.13.3.a. The names of the respective agencies;

8.13.3.b. The effective date of the agreement;

8.13.3.c. The length of notice required by either party to terminate the agreement;

8.13.3.d. The signature, title and date the agreement was signed, for the administrative representatives from both agencies involved;

8.13.3.e. Provision for coordinated planning between the faculty and agency;

8.13.3.f. The responsibilities of the sponsoring agency to:

8.13.3.f.1. Appoint qualified faculty to teach, supervise and counsel students;

8.13.3.f.2. Provide basic learning experiences related to clinical assignment prior to assignment in the clinical area;

8.13.3.f.3. Arrange for orientation and supplemental teaching by agency personnel;

8.13.3.f.4. Select student clinical experience;

8.13.3.f.5. Maintain student records as relevant to the clinical experience;

8.13.3.f.6. Notify the affiliating agency of the inclusive dates of the affiliation and the expected numbers of students, in advance;

8.13.3.f.7. Schedule an annual conference for review of the program and its objectives, including the rotation plan; and,

8.13.3.f.8. Prepare a written evaluation of the clinical experiences.

8.13.3.g. The nurse coordinator shall retain a copy of the evaluation for review during accreditation site visits.

8.13.3.h. The responsibilities of the affiliating agency to;

8.13.3.h.1. Provide specific clinical learning experiences;

8.13.3.h.2. Make available conference areas and reference materials; and

8.13.3.h.3. Meet with the program faculty at regular intervals for evaluation of the program and student experiences:

8.14. Curriculum Evaluation.

8.14.1. The faculty shall evaluate the program of instruction at least once every 2 years.

8.14.2. The faculty shall utilize a variety of resources when evaluating the program, including, but not limited to textbooks and references used in the program, student evaluations, graduate and graduate employer evaluations, clinical facility evaluations, advisory committee or other recommendations from the local community, student performance on the national licensure examination, and the most current job analysis and test plan used to develop the national licensure examination.

8.15. Student Evaluation.

8.15.1. The faculty shall evaluate a student's progress in the clinical area at regular intervals. The student shall participate in this evaluation.

8.15.2. The faculty shall use standardized achievement tests in addition to the faculty designed testing program.

W. Va. Code R. § 10-1-8