By Jennifer Lollar
U.S. News & World Report, in its survey of the Best Graduate Nursing Schools for 2018, has ranked the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing 13th in the nation. This represents a rise in the rankings for the School, which was listed 15th in 2017. Schools of nursing graduate programs are ranked yearly.
This ranking places the School, overall, in the top 5 percent of all schools of nursing and in the top five public schools of nursing in the nation.
Additionally, two of the School's specialties were ranked on reputation -- Nursing Administration is listed 6th and Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner 18th. The School’s new independent Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program ranked 23rd in the nation.
The School also recently received its online graduate program rankings from U.S. News & World Report - overall its online graduate programs ranked 16th nationally and were 7th nationally for online graduate programs for Veterans.
UAB School of Nursing Dean and Fay B. Ireland Chair Doreen Harper, PhD, RN, FAAN, said achieving top tier national rankings yearly for the School’s Master's and DNP programs is a reflection of the excellence of the full complement of undergraduate and graduate programs it offers.
“These rankings are a testament to our focus on students, innovative academic programs, sustainable scholarship and global and clinical partnerships, and reaffirm our vision, strategic goals and priorities,” she said. “The metrics we have achieved that are used by U.S. News & World Report to rank our school are a reflection of the dedication of our faculty, staff, alumni, donors, partners and friends to ensuring our School continues its legacy of leadership in nursing and health care. It is gratifying to know that the incredible work our faculty, staff, students and alumni do every day has been recognized by this national evaluation.”
It also has been a year of continued successes in other areas in the UAB School of Nursing - the 2016 Nurse Anesthesia graduates achieved a 93 percent first-time pass rate on their national certification exam, the 2016 baccalaureate graduates achieved a 96.7 percent first-time pass rate on the NCLEX-RN certification exam, and the School rose yet again in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research/National Institutes of Health research funding rankings to 23rd, up 11 spots from 2015.
“But we must remember rankings and pass rates are not the only indicator of the excellence in nursing and leadership demonstrated by our students, faculty and alumni -- our greatest successes come from producing professional and advanced practice nurses to care for patients with increasing rates of chronic diseases, especially those in rural and underserved areas; leading the discovery and translation of novel and cost-effective care models; and generating nurse leaders to help forge creative change to advance health locally and globally,” Harper said.
For its Best Nursing Schools rankings, U.S. News & World Report surveyed the 532 nursing schools with master's or doctoral programs accredited in late summer 2016 by either the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing.
Both the master's and DNP rankings were based on a weighted average of 14 indicators. Seven ranking indicators were used in both the master's and DNP ranking models. The seven common factors were four research activity indicators, faculty credentials, the percentage of faculty members with important achievements, and faculty participation in nursing practice. The other seven indicators in each ranking used measures that were specific to each degree type. Both rankings also took into account the ratings of academic experts.
To collect this data, nursing school deans and deans of graduate studies were asked to rate the academic quality for both master's and DNP programs at nursing schools separately via survey.
School rises again in U.S. News & World Report rankings
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