Nursing Board Puts UT’s Program on Provisional Approval

The bachelor of science and nursing program at the University of Toledo was put on provisional approval for two years by the state nursing board of Ohio in late July for violation of multiple state regulations.

The program broke three regulations, the most severe of which was the implementation of new graduation requirements to existing students, according to a letter from the State Nursing Board to the University.

Students already enrolled in the program were told they had to score a 90 percent or higher on their Assessment Technologies Institute predictor exam, according to the letter, or they were forced to complete the ATI virtual course before they were considered graduated from the program.

The other two violations both involved missing paperwork that was not sent in to the board by the required time.

The violations were discovered during a full onsite survey by the board in early April, according to Lisa Emrich, the program manager for the state nursing board.

“The program instituted new requirements of existing students so that once the students had already entered the program and were progressing they had an extra requirement for the students which is prohibited by the board,” Emrich said.

UT’s program is still a fully-accredited program, explained Jon Strunk, associate vice president of university communications, in an email interview.

“UT has since removed the policy,” Strunk wrote. “The College of Nursing remains approved by the Ohio Board of Nursing and fully-accredited, and these circumstances will have no impact on College of Nursing students moving forward.”

Once the issue was brought to the nursing board’s attention, nursing students who were enrolled during the time the policy was implemented were allowed to continue through without having to fulfill the new requirement, according to a letter from the university to the nursing board.

“Provisional approval is still an approval of the board,” Emrich said, “Students who successfully complete an approved program, whether the status is conditional approval, full approval, or provisional approval, those students are eligible to apply for licensure by examination.”

Emrich said no further action will be taken against the university regarding this matter until July 2017, when the board will again review the program and adjust the approval status if they deem it necessary.

Another full on-site survey will take place a few months before the meeting to determine if there are any violations, according to Emrich.

“If a program on provisional approval continues to have the same issues, then the board has the ability to either continue the provisional approval for the additional amount of time or they may consider whether it will proceed with the process of issuing a notice of opportunity for a hearing,” Emrich said.

Until that time, UT will continue to operate as is and current nursing students will not be forced to adhere to the new regulations.