The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) has granted the Highland Community College LPN to RN Completion Program initial accreditation at its September 2019 meeting. While all academic and technical programs at HCC operate under accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission, several programs also seek to achieve accreditation with specific program-related agencies to further enhance their status within their fields. The Highland Nursing programs are also approved by the Kansas State Board of Nursing.
“ACEN accreditation is a great achievement for all those surrounding our nursing program. We strive to offer our students quality experiences and coursework. This goes above and beyond to make sure that HCC is doing just that,” commented Deborah Fox President of Highland Community College.
ACEN is the entity responsible for the specialized accreditation of nursing education programs. They support the interests of nursing education, nursing practice, and the public by the function of accreditation.
Fox continued, “this additional program accreditation is voluntary and requires a sophisticated process including years of preparation and at least three years of program-related data from our faculty and staff. The process is intense. Accreditation assists with further improvements of the institutions or programs as related to resources invested, processes followed, and results achieved.”
“In addition to accreditation, HCC nursing students are succeeding. Our graduating nursing classes have achieved excellent first-time pass rates on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for RNs and PNs. The first-time pass rates in 2017 and 2018 were 100% for the LPN to RN Completion Program and 100% and 89% for the Practical Nursing Program,” noted Highland Community College Director of Nursing Jane Zaccardi.
In addition to the Associate Degree in Nursing: LPN to RN completion program, Highland offers allied health courses for Certified Nurse Aide (CNA), Certified Medication Aide (CMA), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-Advanced and EMT-Basic), and Home Health Aide. To learn more, visit highlandcc.edu.
