Heba Sadaka, assistant professor of nursing at UA Little Rock, has achieved the Quality Matters (QM) course certification for Health Assessment I, NURS 3220.

This two-credit course is the first of two sequenced courses focusing on client assessment as well as data collection and documentation. Throughout the class, Sadaka teaches the knowledge and skills needed to perform comprehensive health history, physical, and psychosocial assessments through the use of a variety of tools and techniques. 

“Health assessment is the backbone of nursing practice,” Sadaka said. “A good assessment is essential to ensure safety and to plan patient and family needs.” 

This certification indicates a course meets nationally and internationally recognized standards at an 85 percent level, representing a commitment to creating and maintaining quality and excellence. This course has achieved a 100 percent on nationally and internationally recognized standards due to the work of Sadaka and the Scholarly Technology and Resources (STaR) team. It is now listed in the QM national database of certified courses, receiving a QM seal to display within the course.

“After developing the course, the STaR team did an internal course review and made some recommendations,” Sadaka said. “Brad Sims, Sharonda Lipscomb, Merlene Love, and Geoff Nash have all been helpful and willing to go the extra mile to ensure that course met all the QM standards and to benefit our students.”

Sadaka began her career by earning a Bachelor of Science in nursing in 1993 from Alexandria University in Egypt before moving to North America. After this move, she completed a master’s degree in nursing education-acute adult-gerontology from the University of Iowa in 2010. 

As a certified nurse educator, Sadaka has been teaching nursing courses for over 15 years. She joined the UA Little Rock community in 2017 and has taught in a variety of settings including in-person, inter-professional, simulation, clinical, and online courses. 

“My role as a facilitator is to create learning activities that help the learners achieve the course outcomes,” Sadaka said. “The course must be easy to navigate with clear expectations. This is crucial to aid students in achieving their learning goals without having to worry about where to find things within the course. Best practices in online education allow students to be part of the online learning community and feel engaged, helping students succeed and reducing anxiety.”