Organizing Your School for Accreditation

Abstract

Accreditation of baccalaureate nursing programs in Canada is a recent phenomenon. The Canadian Association of University Schools of Nursing (CAUSN) was designated as the accrediting body for university nursing programs in 1972, and the accreditation process was developed over a number of years by the CAUSN Committee on Accreditation (CAUSN, 1984, Curran, 1984). In 1987, the first program was reviewed (Curran & Bouchard, 1987) and by 1992, ten reviews had been completed. Accreditation is a mechanism of external regulation that is used to promote the development of education programs that are responsive to societal needs and to ensure standards of nursing practice, encourage individuality and diversity, and stimulate innovation (CAUSN, 1984; French, 1978).