Technical Standards for Admission and Graduation

The curricula of the Conway School of Nursing require students to engage in diverse and complex experiences that focus on achieving competencies, knowledge, skills, attributes, and professional values. Applicants for all academic programs and enrolled degree-seeking students must possess specific abilities and skills deemed essential for meeting the professional standards of accrediting agencies.

Candidates for nursing degrees or certificates must be able to meet the standards:

Sensing/Observing: Students must have sufficient visual, auditory, and tactile abilities to make accurate observations and interpret them in the context of laboratory studies, medication administration, and patient care activities. A student must be able to observe a patient accurately, both at a distance and up close. Overall, they must be able to effectively monitor, assess, and respond to the health needs of their patients.

Examples (not all-inclusive):

●Interpret and respond to monitors, alarms, emergency signals, and cries for help
●Interpret and differentiate heart, lung, and bowel sounds

●Observe patient responses
●Observe small calibration markings and numbers (e.g., on syringes)
●Assess color change in skin and fluids

Communication: Students must accurately elicit or interpret information, including medical history, to evaluate a client or patient's condition adequately. They must accurately convey information and analyze it using one or more means of communication (verbal, written, assisted [such as a TTY], and/or electronic) to patients and the healthcare team. They must be able to communicate effectively in a team setting. Students must be able to discern a more profound meaning or significance in what is being expressed. They also must be able to connect with others to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions. They must be able to interact effectively with the health-care team and maintain accurate clinical records on patient care.

Examples (not all-inclusive):

●Concisely and accurately explains treatments and procedures, as well as other health education
●Documents clearly and concisely, within legal guidelines

Motor/Clinical Skills: Students are required to possess motor skills, physical strength, physical endurance, mobility, vision, and tactile abilities sufficient to independently and safely elicit information from patients through palpation, auscultation, percussion, and other manually based diagnostic procedures. Students should be able to safely conduct laboratory and diagnostic tests, as well as carry out physical assessments. Students must possess the motor skills required for them to provide holistic and safe care as a generalist RN or within a specialty’s scope of practice. These skills include operating equipment typically found in the healthcare environment (IV pumps, cardiac monitors, and electric blood pressure equipment, safe patient handling equipment, etc.). Students must practice safely and appropriately providing care in emergencies and during life support procedures, and follow universal precautions to prevent the spread of contamination. The student must also be able to coordinate fine and gross motor movements to effectively treat patients in emergencies. Emergencies include any circumstance that requires an immediate remedy.

Examples (not all-inclusive):

●Maintain sterile technique
●Transfer and position patients
●Change positions and maintain balance around patients in their room or other workspaces.
●Perform assessments and therapeutic procedures, including inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation, and other diagnostic maneuvers and procedures.

Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative Abilities: The student must be able to develop and refine problem-solving skills that are critical to practice as a nurse. The student must possess the ability to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, and synthesize both objective and subjective data, and to make decisions that reflect consistent and sound clinical judgment. Students must possess good judgment in patient assessment and the ability to incorporate new information, comprehend three-dimensional relationships, and retain and recall pertinent information in a timely fashion. This includes decision-making to maintain the safety and security of patients, as well as behaving appropriately with patients, staff, students, supervisors, and faculty.

Examples (not all-inclusive):

●Identify cause-and-effect relationships in clinical situations
●Recognize and respond rapidly and safely to changes in patient status based on a variety of sources, such as physical assessment and pertinent laboratory findings.
●Revise care to promote appropriate patient outcomes
●Access electronic health records using a health agency-approved device
●Safely monitor and respond to alarms, emergency signals, cries for help, heart, lung, and bowel sounds
●Assess respiratory and cardiac function, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and neurological status, among other vital signs.

Behavioral and Social Attributes: Students must possess the physical and emotional health necessary for the application of their intellectual abilities and the use of sound judgment in an appropriate and timely manner. Students must be able to function effectively under physically taxing workloads and in times of physical and mental stress. Students must be able to exhibit a level of consciousness and attentiveness that ensures patient safety. Students must display compassion, sensitivity, and concern for others and maintain professional integrity at all times. Students must be able to adapt to changing environments, display flexibility, accept and integrate constructive criticism, and learn to function cooperatively and efficiently in the face of uncertainties inherent in clinical practice. This includes interacting appropriately with individuals, families, and groups from diverse social, emotional, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds. Students are not required to be involved with medical procedures that are in disagreement with individual attitudes and values, but are required to learn about these procedures and participate in patient care before and after such procedures.

Examples (not all-inclusive):

●Establish and maintain a professional and therapeutic relationship with individuals, families, and groups
●Arrives on time, prepared to fully participate
●Manages work to meet deadlines
●Be able and willing to examine their behavior when it interferes with productive individual or team relationships.

Character

●Concern for others, integrity, accountability, interest, and motivation are necessary personal qualities.
●Demonstrate intent and desire to follow the American Nurses Association Standards of Care and Nursing Code of Ethics.
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Examples (not all inclusive):

●Is honest in all communications with others
●Has a positive attitude to ensure teamwork
●Maintains confidentiality

Program Specific Requirements: In addition to the areas enumerated above, applicants and students must also possess any abilities and skills deemed essential for their particular program. These areas of enumerated skills and abilities are the minimum attributes required of applicants for admission to the specific nursing program and of students who are candidates for graduation.

The Conway School of Nursing is committed to full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as amended by the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified persons with disabilities, as well as other federal and state laws pertaining to individuals with disabilities. Admission to the Conway School of Nursing is open to all qualified individuals in compliance with Federal, State and local law. The Conway School of Nursing is committed to accommodating the needs of students with documented disabilities. Based on the requirements of the program and the profession of nursing, the above standards are established for the Conway School of Nursing. Modifications or adjustments made to enable individuals with disabilities to participate equally, without fundamentally altering the essential nature of the course or program, are coordinated through the University Office for Disability Support Services. The determination on whether a proposed accommodation fundamentally alters the essential nature of the standards for the nursing program are determined by the University’s Fundamental Alteration Committee in coordination with the Conway School of Nursing Associate Dean for Baccalaureate programs for undergraduate students or the Dean for graduate students and Disability Support Services.

Questions or concerns regarding these technical standards should be directed to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs. Questions or requests for reasonable accommodations should be coordinated through the Catholic University Disability Support Services.