Physical Therapy, Nursing Programs Reaccredited

NYIT’s graduate physical therapy and undergraduate nursing programs were recently reaccredited by their respective accrediting bodies, signaling the programs’ success in meeting national standards of excellence.

The Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education awarded 10-year reaccreditations to the programs following visits to NYIT-Old Westbury last fall.

“A full 10-year reaccreditation not only solidifies the fact that we have programs of the highest quality but also provides us with a platform from which we can now begin to look at expansion of these programs,” said School of Health Professions Dean Patricia Chute, Ed.D.

Future expansion may include master’s level education for nursing and new post-graduate residency programs for physical therapy. NYIT leaders are also investigating a new graduate athletic training degree that could align with NYIT’s physical therapy program.

Chute thanked NYIT President Edward Guiliano, Ph.D., Vice President for Medical Affairs and Global Health Jerry Balentine, D.O., and Vice President for Planning and Assessment Hattie Arnone, Ph.D., for providing essential support to the reaccreditation process.

The nursing and physical therapy programs have enjoyed significant successes in recent years.

• All of the members of nursing’s Class of 2015 passed the nursing licensing exam, while in May, the 43 members of the Class of 2016 (one of the largest classes in several years) graduated. A class of the same size is expected to graduate next year, said Department of Nursing Chair Susan Neville. Last April, as part of their Capstone course, the senior class attended the New York State Nurses Association Lobby Day in Albany where they met with their legislators to lobby for support of current legislation, including safe staffing ratios. And recent graduate Kate Brock excelled in the nursing program while also playing basketball as a member of NYIT’s NCAA-bound women’s team.
• In April, NYIT’s Department of Physical Therapy received the chapter appreciation award from the New York Physical Therapy Association. Physical therapy graduates have a 98 percent three-year pass rate (combined results from 2013–2015) for the profession’s licensing exam. Students also hosted a large education and networking conference for New York State physical therapy students last fall. Additionally, seven groups of students presented what Department of Physical Therapy Chair Karen Friel called “an incredible caliber of research worthy of publication” at the Alethiea (Greek for “truth”) research forum in April. Topics included: the validity of smart phone technology and pulse oximetry; yoga and its effect on cognition in college-aged students; and the effect of whole-body vibration on cognition and physical measures in Parkinson’s disease.

“That every objective measure for reaccreditation was met speaks to the excellence of the program and how well prepared our graduates are to meet the demands of the profession,” said Friel.

Neville was similarly pleased with the reaccreditation results for her program. “There’s been a lot of work we’ve done for this, and I’m really thrilled,” she said. “It means we have the faculty expertise, resources in place, policies in place and our students get very good positions.”