Improving the quality and safety the nation’s healthcare system is the goal of a major curriculum revision under way for nursing programs across the country, said Rosemary Klepper, nursing program director.

Two members of the OCCC nursing program staff attended a national seminar in San Antonio this semester on infusing national safety initiatives into nursing education programs, Klepper said.

Safety improvements in hospitals will be designed to reduce the spread of infections, prevent falls, and avoid medication errors, she said. Hospitals also want to eliminate environmental safety hazards in health care.

OCCC’s Associate Nursing Program Director Deborah Myers and Assistant Program Director Terri Walker were the only two nursing faculty from Oklahoma at the institute.

Klepper said the purpose of the project is to address the challenge of preparing future nurses with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems in which they work.

“Currently, we are undertaking a major curriculum update to ensure that it meets the standards of Quality Safety Education (QSEN),” Klepper said.

Myers said the task is daunting.

“It’s going to be a very big and time-consuming project, but we are committed to its completion,” she said. “It is not only critical to our students’ learning needs but also to the thousands of patients whose lives are in their hands.”

Myers said the QSEN Faculty Development Institute is a program that was developed from a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Faculty at all entry-level registered nursing programs across the country were allowed to apply for the institute.

“Terri Walker and I were chosen to attend the first of eight institutes, which were held in San Antonio,” Myers said. 

“Infusing national safety initiatives in our nursing program will also include some curriculum updates,” Myers said. “We are in the infant stages at this point.”

Walker said the most important part of the trip was “the ability to network with nursing educators from across the country and develop a better understanding of our responsibilities for implementing QSEN.”

For more information about the OCCC nursing program, contact Klepper at 405-682-1611, ext. 7289, or e-mail rklepper@occc.edu.

To contact Joey Stipek, email onlineeditor@occc.edu.