NURSFPX6107 Assignment 3
Curriculum, Overview, Framework and, Analysis
Student’s Name
Module
Module Code
Curriculum, Overview, Framework and, Analysis
1.0 Introduction
Curriculum development in nursing education is a creative and scholarly process aimed at producing an evidence-based, unified and content relevant curriculum. This process is a continuous activity in nursing education and ranges from creation of an original and reconceptualised curriculum to frequent refinement and revision of existing curriculum. According to Baxter (2017), curriculum is the desired set of goals or values that can be activated by adoption of a development process leading to experiences to the learners. This aspect implies that there is need for taking continuous improvement in nursing curriculum to enable nursing student be in line with current knowledge and practice.
In most cases, designing a curriculum incorporates configuration of courses in a program and deciding the sequencing of this course is to attain the desired outcomes. According to Oermann (2013), it is important for developers of a nursing curriculum to adopt objectivity by incorporating the goals, philosophy, values and mission of a healthcare entity to attain the desired outcomes. The adoption of these parameters in developing a nursing curriculum contributes to development of strategic goals that enable attaining of nursing objectives.
The proposed nursing curriculum incorporates development of a simulation learning program to address COVID-19 and other severe acute respiratory diseases (SARS). This curriculum will lead to increasing the knowledge and capability in managing global pandemics in a dynamic health care needs and challenges. This program will be rolled out for the second year students at Capella University nursing School and will continue for the next semesters to increase the understanding of current technologies in managing global pandemics such as COVID-19. This curriculum will be applicable to increase their expertise and competence of nursing students considering that the students will engage in different clinical hours. Also, the students will collaborate with other experienced stakeholders in different entities concerning the application of simulation in managing SARS and other respiratory complications.
To achieve these objectives, the proposed curriculum will utilize simulation based on the nursing standards through the application of effective tools in this perspective. This implies that the simulation will apply the necessary tools and systems that will enable the students understand the rationale behind management of SARS such as COVID-19. One of the key aims for developing this curriculum is to enable the students engage with other stakeholders in developing new modalities and approaches in addressing global respiratory pandemics. Through the use of simulations, students are expected to have a clear viewpoint concerning the best possible approaches in managing SARS to avert negative health consequences.
This curriculum is needed in the school to enable learners develop insight and competence related to management of global respiratory pandemics that have impacted negatively on healthcare delivery systems. Considering that the topic of global respiratory diseases has gained minimal focus until the recent past, use of simulation can be imperative in facilitating attaining objectivity in management perspectives. Also, the need to address global respiratory pandemics is due to the impact that these respiratory diseases have on the healthcare delivery system.
Simulation incorporates the use of practical approaches in managing a healthcare condition (Gamble, 2017). This curriculum will offer the nursing students with an understanding of how to use current knowledge related to management of global respiratory pandemics. This approach will help in addressing the grey areas in use of simulation in addressing global respiratory pandemics. Currently, Capella University does not teach simulation for SARS. However, there is need to adopt this perspective considering the dynamism experienced in nursing and the need to adopt effective interventions to facilitate attaining overall positive health outcomes. The inclusion of simulation based learning for SARS will enable nursing students be in line with the current approaches in managing global respiratory pandemics. Therefore, use of simulation in managing global respiratory pandemics should be included in Capella university nursing school.
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Mission statement and course descriptions
The mission of the curriculum incorporates delivering practical skills to nursing students in managing global respiratory pandemics through simulation. The mission statement of Capella University is to extend access to high quality bachelor’s masters, specialists, doctoral and certificate programs for all individuals who seek to maximize their personal and professional potential (Capella University, 2020). This mission is in tandem with the curriculum’s objectives of enhancing development of professional skills through simulation based learning. Besides, the proposed curriculum will be vital in enhancing the understanding of nursing students and equipping the baccalaureate nurses with new interventions in healthcare that will enable delivering of quality care to the patients. It’s also evident that personal and professional objectives are related to nursing goals through creating individual alignment to delivery of quality care. Therefore, this curriculum will aim at equipping students with personal skills that will consequently lead to development of professional nursing skills.
Course description
The proposed courses for the curriculum will incorporate communication systems, nursing law, nursing leadership and management, nursing assessment and diagnosis, nursing care and ethical implications. These courses are highlighted in the following context;
Communication systems- Incorporates adoption of current communication techniques such as information technology and a plethora of communication systems applied in enabling delivering evidence based care.
Nursing law - This topic will focus on the guidelines and policies related to simulation and their significance in nursing education.
Nursing leadership – The aim of this course is to offer understanding of nursing leadership and skills critical for delivery of evidence based nursing.
Nursing assessment and diagnosis- This course will increase the skills and competence of nurses to conduct patient assessment and make diagnosis for SARS based on evidence.
Nursing care – The importance of this course is derived from the need to offer hands on skills to students on protocols and guidelines of managing SARS such as COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
Nursing ethics- Ethics is a crucial topic in nursing. The course will provide ethical guidelines relevant to the course in management of COVID-19.
Professional standards, competencies and guidelines
Several considerations have been made in choosing the curriculum. These include the alignment of the curriculum to the professional standards, competencies and guidelines. To begin with, it will be prudential to incorporate the Quality and safety Education for nurses (QSEN). The rationality of including this perspective in nursing is due to the need to adopt team working, quality improvements, collaborative care, patient-centred care and evidence based practice. Besides, selection of these competencies will be critical to offer the needed perspectives in managing global pandemics.
Secondly, it will be essential to adopt the American Nurses Association (ANA) standards for all nurses. The purpose of this curriculum is to identify nursing standards critical for achievement of nursing care in addressing COVID 19 and other respiratory diseases. The adoption of ANA’s standards will be critical to enable nursing students attain professional competency. The commission on collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) has also set standards that must be followed in a graduate and baccalaureate programs. Including these standards will be critical in developing relevant competency (Monsen et al., 2019). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has standards on development of a curriculum. The entity has set guidelines to be followed in developing a graduate degree nursing and a baccalaureate programs to meet the health challenges and needs.
These guidelines and professional codes of conduct are targeted at enabling nurses uphold moral and ethical standards to ensure that nursing education is offered based on current evidence. Besides, these professional guidelines aim at ensuring that nursing profession has a high degree of credibility attained through practical nursing skills.
Student’s learning outcomes
One of the fundamental objectives of the proposed curriculum is to equip the students with skills and competencies in managing global respiratory pandemics through the use of simulation. By the end of the nursing curriculum, the students are expected to;
- Attain in-depth understanding of patient assessment and diagnosis skills relevant to respiratory diseases.
- Adopt interdisciplinary collaboration and relationships with other colleagues and healthcare staff.
- Be able to communicate effectively in delivery of healthcare services to patients with respiratory challenges.
- Apply knowledge, skills and expertise concerning patient assessment, diagnosis and delivery of evidence based care.
- Attain a clear understanding of pathophysiology and etiology of SARS and current evidence concerning its management.
- Understand current nursing policies and practices concerning management of global respiratory pandemics.
- Understand and appreciate diversity and the role that this parameter plays in addressing these parameters.
- The importance of leadership and its role in addressing global respiratory outbreaks and other respiratory diseases. Leadership styles are critical in nursing practice and addressing cases of global respiratory outbreaks.
Process to update healthcare knowledge in proposed curriculum
It’s important that nursing students are updated on current strategies to manage global respiratory challenges. This implies a continuous update of healthcare knowledge through curriculum review (Iwasiw and Goldenberg, 2015). The proposed process of updating healthcare knowledge will incorporate yearly review of the curriculum’s abilities to meet the set objectives. Besides, the curriculum will incorporate determining the success of graduates in the professional nursing sector. The update process will involve assessing if there is need to include more courses in this perspectives or removing some courses in the program. This aspect will play a key role in determining the need to update the healthcare knowledge concerning proposed curriculum.
Demonstration of organizational design and theoretical framework
The design of the curriculum is based on the ability of students to understand the fundamental concepts through collaborative approach. The adoption of a concept based learning approach will lead to improvement in learning process through offering evidence based information critical for this undertaking. According to Hendricks and Wangerin (2017), concept based learning approach is an effective approach in delivering critical information in the nursing profession.
These domains are evident in the selected curriculum considering that simulation is a practical approach to solving healthcare issues. This curriculum also provides nursing students with hands on skills vital in the nursing profession. The simulation perspectives will be available throughout the course where the students will be significantly involved in practical learning. The adoption of intuition as a framework will be impetus for enhancing competency in nursing. These aspects will be vital to enhance success of the curriculum as they are part thereof.
Historical overview of organizing design and theoretical framework
The adoption of Kolb’s experiential learning theory is vital in enhancing success for the selected curriculum (Lisko & O'Dell, 2010). This theory is anchored on the proposition that learning incorporates acquisition of knowledge of simple concepts that enhance learning process (Fewster-Thuente, & Batteson, 2018). The theory opines that skills and experiences are critical for developing new way of doing things. These are the critical parameters in developing a curriculum as it creates a key learning aspect in nursing education. Drawing from the historical perspectives of the theoretical approach, it’s critical to offer new and dynamic experiences to students to enable them develop analytical skills for management of new health challenges.
Major concepts of organizing design and theoretical framework
The selected theory is anchored on the ability nursing students to attain new kills that will culminate in to professional expertise. The theory posits that experiential learning is attained through the transformation of experience (Seaman, Brown, & Quay, 2017). In this respect, knowledge arises from combining transformation of experience and grasping concepts. Certain parameters such as cognitive, environmental and emotional factors influence the learning process. Learning by intuition as in the selected curriculum will create an evidence based approach that will enable the nursing students grasp concepts faster. These parameters ate incorporated in the proposed curriculum through simulation to offer practical skills and experiences.
2.0 Course Development and Influencing Factors
Introduction
A curriculum can be viewed as a combination of philosophical approaches, learning goals, courses, interactions, and evaluation and delivery methods aimed at igniting learning. Curriculum development involves a step-by-step process aimed at creating a positive change to the courses offered in a learning institution. Curriculum development is crucial in expanding the scope covered in the course, ensuring that the lessons learned are more related and ensuring that the course responds to new developments in the society. As demonstrated by Astle et al. (2020) curriculum development in nursing is crucial in creating an evidence-informed and context-relevant curriculum. The model of evidence-informed, context-relevant and unified curriculum developed by (Astle et al. 2020) demonstrates that a nursing curriculum should be based on gathered evidence concerning prevailing nursing practice, health situations, nursing education, responsiveness to students, feasibility of the institution, consistency with the school’s mission and goals and relevant philosophical approaches. The continuous enhancement of the curriculum is therefore vital for the delivery of quality nursing education.
Curriculum development is however exposed to numerous internal and external factors including teachers, learners, resources and facilities, interest groups, school environment, culture and ideology of the institution, instructional supervision and assessment process among others (Sang and Simpson, 2019). This paper will provide a detailed analysis of the additional course proposed and how the course is exposed to various internal and external factors.
Additional Course Proposed
The additional course proposed involves a simulation learning program to address Covid-19 and other severe acute respiratory diseases (SARS). The curriculum will create an opportunity for the students to learn how to manage severe acute respiratory diseases (SARS) including Covid-19 that has caused numerous fatalities across the world. The course will equip students with current technologies used to manage global pandemics and utilize simulations to cooperate with other medical stakeholders in combating global respiratory pandemics. Simulation will be utilized to enable students understand the rationale behind the management of SARS such as COVID-19. The course will create an opportunity for the students to learn current issues in the medical field exposed by Covid-19 including safety of medical practitioners, home-based care and vaccination programs hence participate actively in responding to the issues. Simulation involves re-creating the characteristics of the real world. Simulation is crucial in the medical field due to various factors. Simulation creates a platform for students to undertake activities that would rather be dangerous in the real world, ensures students gain skills through hands-on practice as opposed to apprentice style of learning, bridge the gap between theory and practice in medical education and expose learners to advanced educational technology. At the end of the course, students will better understand Covid-19 and other severe acute respiratory diseases (SARS) and develop evidence-based solutions to challenges posed by pandemics.
Rationale for Addition of Course to Selected Curriculum
According to Worldometers.com (2021), the total number of global deaths as a result of Covid-19 was 2,554,131 as at 2nd March 2021. The total number of covid-19 cases at the time was 115,168,695 worldwide. The first case of covid-19 was reported in Wuhan China in December 2019 but the disease has since spread to all other countries. The high number of cases and deaths demonstrate the utmost importance of educating medical students on covid-19 and other related illnesses. The pandemic has also resulted to other complications in the medical field including the importance of safety measures in the medical facilities, vaccination programs, home-based and alternative care and care in quarantine facilities among other issues. The course will use simulation to educate students on the disease and other related issues hence the course is timely and responds to current developments in the medical field. Additionally, the course will utilize simulations hence create an opportunity for students to re-create actual environments without exposing them to real danger. The course will also create a platform for students to identify specific challenges facing the fight against the pandemic hence collaborate with other medical professionals in developing reliable and evidence-based solutions. The course will also impact students with technological skills hence ensure that students use advanced technology to solve real challenges and automate some processes hence reduce human errors.
Course Outline
Simulations
Simulation-based clinical education enables medical students to sharpen their clinical and decision-making skills through real-life situations and experiences without compromising their own or patients’ well-being. Simulations involve various computer programs and devices that create a virtual environment. For example, vSim is a widely used software to simulate medical scenarios and environments. Introduction to simulation will enable students to understand various tools, equipment and computer programs used to create real-like medical environments. The lessons in simulation also expose students to practical work where students can create simulations of various environments hence have an opportunity to participate in current research. The lessons will also enable students to appreciate the role of technology in the medical field. Introduction to simulation
Medical and Health Issues resulting from Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need to re-evaluate how medical professionals respond to medical issues surrounding Covid-19 and other severe acute respiratory diseases (SARS). There is need to improve how healthcare facilities and systems respond to respiratory diseases to avoid or reduce the effects of a breakout of such illnesses. The course will create an opportunity for students to understand medical issues that resulted from the pandemic and related challenges. For example, the pandemic demonstrated the need for collaboration between different stakeholders including government, security personnel, medical professionals and technology companies in combating respiratory diseases. Secondly, the pandemic demonstrated the need for equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, tests and treatments. The course will evaluate challenges encountered during testing for Covid-19 and delivery of vaccines and medical care. Thirdly, the course will demonstrate the importance of data tracking where various useful data recording and analysis software will be reviewed.
Influencing Factors
Internal Factors
Although the course is crucial and will impact relevant skills and knowledge to the students, the successful implementation of the course will be influenced by various factors. The factors can be categorized as either internal or external factors whereby internal factors are factors within the school while external factors are factors beyond the school. The implementation of a curriculum involves various stakeholders including teachers, curriculum committees, major school departments, internal review bodies, learners, regulatory bodies and professional bodies among others. The course will therefore be successfully implemented if it is supported and embraced by these stakeholders. The section below summarizes how the internal and external factors will affect the implementation of the course.
Organizational Processes
Organizations have specific processes and laid-down procedures that have to be implemented before adopting a change. Organizations use guidelines, policies and procedures to ensure that reliable steps are followed to ensure the adoption of a new change. Schools follow a specified process before adopting a new curriculum. The curriculum implementation process involves various steps including planning, implementation, evaluation and reporting. The school’s management will be informed concerning the need for re-evaluating the current curriculum with clear advantages of the proposed changes. The implementation of the course will only be successful if the school management support the changes and fail to create complexities and bureaucratic procedures which might hinder its adoption.
Curriculum Committees
The curriculum committee has to review any proposed changes to the current curriculums. The curriculum committee is among the major factors that will determine whether or not the new changes will be adopted since the committee has to approve or disapprove the changes. To increase the chances of the committee approving the changes, the need for the changes and advantages of the proposed course will be clearly demonstrated.
Students
In the past, the school and curriculum committees adopted curriculums without necessarily informing or collecting the views of the learners. However, schools have realized the need to adopt a learner-centered approach to education where the views and needs of the students are regarded before making any important decisions including adopting a new curriculum (Dȩbiec, 2017). The learners might chose to either support or reject the proposed course which will influence the decision of the curriculum committee. To ensure that learners support the proposed course, the learners will be educated on the importance of simulating covid-19 situations.
Teachers
Teachers are also crucial stakeholders in the implementation of any curriculum. Teachers have a clear understanding of the needs in the market hence can determine the relevance of a certain course. Teachers should also have the required capacity and tools to teach the proposed course before the course is introduced. The success of the course will also depend on whether the teachers are willing to support the proposed changes hence recommend the course to the curriculum committee and other relevant authorities.
Capacity of the Institution to offer the Course
The implementation of a curriculum involves various resources including relevant tools and equipment, educational materials, technologies, assessment processes and time among other resources. The institution will therefore have to invest significant resources to ensure the successful implementation of the course. The curriculum committee will determine the overall costs required to implement the course and the finance department will determine whether the school has the required financial resources to implement the course. The proposed course will only be adopted if the school has sufficient resources to support it.
External Factors
External factors are factors outside the institution but influence whether the proposed course will be implemented successfully. The section below summarizes how the external factors affect the implementation of the course.
External Stakeholders
Stakeholders are all interested parties in the curriculum. The external stakeholders include relevant government agencies, professional bodies, and technology companies which offer simulation platforms. The course can only be successfully implemented if the stakeholders provide the required support. For example, the course will rely on third party simulation programs hence the course can only be implemented if the programs are accessible, affordable and reliable. Professional bodies ensure that students who graduate have the required skills and expertise to meet the needs of the patients. Professional bodies should be consulted before adopting the curriculum to ensure that students will be registered under the bodies after their graduation.
Political factors
The government considers the education sector as a vital organ in ensuring national security and nationalism. Covid-19 is not only a medical issue but has also attracted political attention as governments adopt policies to reduce the caseload. It is highly expected that the government will be interested in the course as the course creates an opportunity for local solutions to issues related to the pandemic. The government is likely to support and finance the course. However, the government is expected to closely monitor the course to ensure that new developments from the research are not a threat to national security.
Donor and Grants Providers
Implementing a curriculum requires extensive funding and internal funding might not be sufficient. Donors and institutions offering grants provide alternative sources of funds to ensure that students and the institution are not burdened. Donors will ensure that the most appropriate resources and programs for simulation are purchased. Donors will also provide funds to link the students with major facilities conducting research on covid-19 hence expose students to real medical concerns that require solutions.
How the Mission, Philosophy, and Framework of Program and Parent Institution affect Curriculum Design
The school is founded on specific mission, goals, vision, objectives and moral principles. Any curriculum should be structured to enable the institution meet its founding attributes. The relationship between the mission, philosophy and framework of the school and the proposed course is therefore paramount.
Mission and Philosophy impacting Curriculum Design
The mission of an organization provides its overall goal of its operations, the products it offers and target customers. The school’s mission is to provide knowledge while upholding diversity. The proposed course will create an avenue for knowledge acquisition and ensure that students are equipped with relevant skills. The proposed course also enables students to exchange ideas and information with other experts hence upholds diversity. The course is therefore in line with the mission of the institution. The school is anchored on various values including human potential, achievement, decisive collaboration, innovation and integrity. The proposed course will ensure that students become more innovative especially with regards to covid-19. The course will also allow students to collaborate with other stakeholders which is a key value of the institution. The course will also foster success and achievement of the learners which ensures that the institution focuses on the needs of the learners in line with its learners value.
Collaboration between External and Internal Stakeholders
The curriculum will require both the external and internal stakeholder to work together. Various meetings will be arranged between representatives of internal and external stakeholders to enhance collaboration. The course is likely to benefit the students as well as the entire community hence there is a justified reason for both the internal and external stakeholders to support its implementation.
Conclusion
The proposed course involves using simulations to educate students on medical issues related to covid-19 and other severe acute respiratory diseases (SARS). The changes in curriculum is aimed at ensuring that student participate actively in finding solutions to current challenges facing the medical sector due to the pandemic. The analysis shows that the successful implementation of the course requires collaboration between different internal and external stakeholders. The analysis also demonstrates that the proposed course is in line with the school’s vision, mission and goals.
3.0 Importance of on-going curriculum evaluation
Continuous evaluations of nursing curriculum incorporate the determination of the performance of the chosen curriculum (Alexander et al., 2020). This aspect incorporates determining if the chosen curriculum is in line with the initial objectives. On-going curriculum evaluation allows for understanding of the likelihood of the curriculum to provide help for the nursing sector and healthcare delivery systems in general. The importance of on-going curriculum assessment is derived from the need to adopt a wider perspective in determining the imperativeness of the curriculum in the nursing sector. Hande et al., (2017) also note that curriculum development incorporates many stakeholders who are interested in evaluating its performance. This attribute is derived due to the need to increase value proposition from their input.
One of the imperative aspects in curriculum evaluation is to assess hurdles that may hinder effective implementation of the nursing courses. Therefore, evaluating performance of a curriculum is an imperative part of curriculums success in impacting skills and competence in nursing students. Evaluating curriculum is done by nurse educators in different levels. As noted by Lopez and Cleary (2019), this attribute is vital for different stakeholders and parties who are keen in understanding its performance in practical nursing arena. First, the parents are interested in assessing curriculums performance. This interest is derived from the need to assess if their children are attaining the best value in the developed curriculum. Nurse educators would also be interested in assessing performance of curriculum and determine if what they teach is relevant in nursing to equip students with skills and competence vital for delivery of quality care. The government is also keen in assessing if the proposed curriculum can be adopted in general nursing practice. The public is also interested in assessing if the curriculum is in tandem with nursing objectives and align to community health needs.
Criteria important in curriculum evaluation
Nurse educators must consider certain parameters during curriculum evaluation. These parameters will determine the success of curriculum evaluation. To begin with, considering content of the curriculum is essential in curriculum evaluation (Gamble, 2017). This content is what forms the curriculum. It’s therefore critical that the curriculum evaluation modalities are able to contribute to curriculum’s objectives of helping nursing students attain critical skills in nursing practice. It’s also vital for curriculum evaluators to consider behavioural perspectives. The design of a curriculum is anchored on learning environment with learners and students. The behaviours of these individuals may influence curriculum evaluation as they may present false behaviour for evaluation. Beroz (2017) notes that learners and students should portray behaviour in tandem with the developed curriculum.
The circumstances under which learners work in is a critical part of curriculum evaluation as it contributes to behavioural perspectives towards the proposed curriculum. These conditions such as learning environments can enhance the learning behaviour of students. The criterion parameter is vital for consideration in curriculum review as it focuses on the level of performance critical for students to attain success. For example, it’s critical to evaluate if the curriculum is developing the vital levels of performance in the students.
How and why pilot testing is vital in curriculum evaluation
Pilot testing can be used in curriculum evaluation. This aspect incorporates small scale of short term rolling out of the program to a selected group of people before scaling it up to the entire population. Pilot testing is critical to assess the effectiveness of the proposed curriculum in achieving the nursing objectives (Ingram et al., 2019). This process can also identify issues arising that have the ability to affect performance of the program. This aspect presents a good chance for improvements in case there are week areas that may negate with curriculum’s objectives. Pilot testing is an important part of curriculum development as it can allow for a smooth transition in roll out.
Pilot testing can take a long time frame ranging from two semesters to a year or more. During this time, the stakeholders undertake rigorous evaluation of the curriculum and correct any arising issue. This undertaking leads to attainment of a fine-tuned curriculum to the desired outcomes. A successful pilot testing involves all stakeholders. For example, it’s essential to give autonomy to all stakeholders to interact with the curriculum and critique potential areas of weaknesses (Cannon et al., 2020). Giving the stakeholders autonomy can be vital to allow delivery of critical nursing skills to students. Pilot testing can lead to reduction in implementation costs as cost benefit analysis of the curriculum is done at this stage. This assessment tells whether to continue with roll out or to postpone to a future date.
Examples of short and long term curriculum evaluations for process improvements
Short term curriculum evaluation is carried out in a short time frame. This evaluation is due to student’s feedback concerning the evaluated parameters. This evaluation depends on preliminary data therefore no need to conduct in depth analysis. In most cases, data obtained from stakeholders is critical in facilitating short term review (Yang et al., 2019). This information is used in making improvements in areas of weakness.
Long term curriculum evaluation incorporates different parameters that must be considered prior to review. This undertaking requires many experts in data collection and analysis to attain the required results (Fromer, 2017). The viewpoint of every stakeholder is considered in nursing evaluation process. Information provided by stakeholders such as nursing educators and clinical professionals is incorporated in making a review to enhance curriculum’s effectiveness.
Both short and long term curriculum evaluation are vital in providing key information that can lead to improvement in proposed curriculum. Short term evaluation can be critical in answering the questions of long term curriculum efficacy. Besides, short term assessments can be vital in addressing short term loopholes that can lead to curriculum’s failure if not addresses. The long term evaluation process focuses on different parameters that could affect sustainability of the curriculum (Fromer, 2017). These include the long term factors that are significant for curriculum’s success. The importance of both short and long term curriculum evaluation is evident in providing a wider view that contributes to success in the curriculum. This implies that both long term and short term curriculum evaluations are critical to facilitate development of a robust nursing curriculum.
Applying evidence-based nursing concepts and theories in curriculum development
The use of evidence based nursing in curriculum development is vital to give students a base for professional nursing (Hande et al., 2017). Evidence based practice involves carrying out nursing only after using the best possible and current evidence. This aspect implies that the application of scientific research in curriculum development will give the students a chance to make quality decisions, besides, it’s possible for nursing students to attain an analytical perspective in nursing through the use of up to date data in this perspective. The use of nursing theories is also vital to give the students a clear viewpoint of nursing concepts (Beccaria, Kek & Huijser, 2018). The scope of this aspect includes concepts of patient care. The nursing students will also learn and appreciate the role of research in nursing practice therefore; collection of data will be a critical aspect of evidence based nursing and will contribute to development of professionalism in nursing.
The development of curriculum can involve principles of research and evidence based practices. Curriculum developers can incorporate quality concepts in healthcare and practical sessions to optimize on evidence based nursing. For example, weekly practical sessions where students participate in exchange of skills and ideas can be critical in facilitating attainment of success in curriculum development.
Accrediting bodies for nursing curriculum
Several bodies will be involved in accrediting the proposed curriculum. These include the following;
The Commission on the Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) - This entity accredits programs at the graduate and baccalaureate levels and post graduate APRN. This is an autonomous arm of the Americas Association College of Nursing.
The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) - This body is responsible for accrediting programs at the baccalaureate, diploma, associate and graduate levels.
The American College of Nurse-Midwives Division of Accreditation (ACNM) - This body accredits midwifery education programs such as certificate, graduate nurse-midwifery, direct entry midwifery and pre-certification midwifery programs (Avery et al., 2020).
These bodies will be instrumental in assessing if the proposed curriculum is in line with professional nursing guidelines. These bodies carry out frequent assessment of nursing curriculum to determine the optimal courses for delivering quality care. The information provided by these stakeholders can be useful in improving nursing curriculum through adding missing components or addressing inherent limitations. The results should be piloted first to assess if there is a significant change before scaling up.
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