Redesigning Communities of Interest Meetings for Accreditation

BACKGROUND: Accreditation agencies expect nursing programs to share outcome data and program updates with communities of interest (COI) and obtain feedback. A COI meeting connecting various groups simultaneously provides opportunities for interactive involvement and valuable feedback. PROBLEM: Faculty face competing demands that limit time and resources for ongoing accreditation work, underscoring the need for replicable quality improvement processes. No comprehensive, easy-to-apply strategy was discovered in the literature. APPROACH: This article presents a collaborative process and case example for redesigning a COI meeting. Redesign features include expanded faculty and COI involvement, delineated tasks, timeline, script, and slide template. Meeting components incorporate structured welcome/opening, outcome assessment, program and faculty updates, nursing student success resources, survey, open discussion, and closing. OUTCOMES: Implementation of the redesign process improved COI and faculty engagement and yielded meaningful feedback. CONCLUSIONS: Nurse educators can adapt the process and strategies across program levels, delivery formats, accrediting bodies, and settings.