The Arizona Nexus: the first five years.

Arizona Nexus is a pioneer Nexus Innovations Network (NIN) member with the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (National Center) and a statewide collaborative with members from five public and private universities and six health care organizations in Arizona. The Arizona Nexus grew from the request of interprofessional champions at two public state universities, Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of Arizona (UA), to be part of the University of Minnesota's application and vision for the first National Center cohort. Culture change, shared vision, resources, and leadership are factors that have been in play in the development and growth of the Arizona Nexus. In this case study, we tell the story of the Arizona Nexus, key landmarks in its development and how these four factors contributed to its growth and success. For the Arizona Nexus, the next five years and beyond will embody action. Building from the hard-won and exciting foundation we have built in our first five years, we are determined to accelerate the growth of interprofessional practice and education, inspire continued growth of academic and clinical partnerships, and use the knowledge, skills and creative thinking of all professions to improve and transform health care.

Clinical evaluation and grading practices in schools of nursing: national survey findings part II.

To better understand how nurse educators evaluate and grade students' clinical practice, the Evaluation of Learning Advisory Council of the National League for Nursing conducted a survey of faculty (N = 1,573) in all types of prelicensure RN programs. This article describes the findings of that survey in relation to clinical evaluation and grading clinical practice. Nearly all faculty used a clinical evaluation tool to rate students' performance in the clinical setting (n = 1,534, 98 percent); most programs had the same basic tool in all courses, but modified to reflect the unique aspects of each course (n = 1,095, 70 percent). Faculty (n = 1,116, 83 percent) reported using pass/fail for grading in clinical courses rather than a letter or numerical grade.

Assessment and grading practices in schools of nursing: national survey findings part I.

In fall 2007, the Evaluation of Learning Advisory Council of the National League for Nursing conducted a survey on the assessment and evaluation strategies and grading practices used by nurse faculty in prelicensure RN programs. This article describes how faculty evaluate student learning in the cognitive and affective domains and factors that influence their decisions about assessment and grading. A 29-item web-based survey was completed by 1,573 nurse faculty from all types of prelicensure programs. In decisions about assessment methods and grading in courses, the school's NCLEX-RN pass rate was the most important consideration. Papers, group/collaborative projects, case study analyses, care plans, teacher-made tests, standardized tests, and students' self-assessment were used most frequently (> 50 percent) for evaluating learning in the cognitive domain. The main strategy used to assess students' values was observation as students interacted with patients and families (n = 1,051, 67 percent) and others (students, faculty, and clinical team members) (n = 845, 54 percent) in the health care setting.