Accreditation Review: Strategies, Costs, and Benefits

Abstract

Historic Overview University schools of nursing in Ontario have been participating in a peer approval process since 1976. The Ontario Region of the Canadian Association University Schools of Nursing (ORCAUSN) formed an Accreditation Committee to develop and implement the approval process for Ontario in the belief that the profession should participate in the self-discipline of its members. This practice has implications for the educators of the profession, as well as for the practitioners. CAUSN aspired to an accreditation program in 1972 by setting out a method to ensure quality in nursing education. Accreditation is viewed as the desirable and optimal attainment of standards (CAUSN, 1979). Approval has evolved to mean that the standards for measurement are at or near the minimum necessary to achieve an identified goal. Accreditation involves approval, but in most cases it includes standards for measurement which encompass a goal of excellence. Although Ontario has an Accreditation Committee, the title is anomalous since measurement and evaluation is actually limited to standards of approval.