CURRICULAR TRENDS IN ACCREDITED GENERIC BACCALAUREATE NURSING PROGRAMS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES (NURSING PROGRAMS).

Description

Rapid technological advances in health care delivery, changes in health care financing, and the increasing number of elderly in the American population have resulted in dramatic alterations in the nature and scope of health care, the needs of health care consumers, and the practice of nursing. Nurse educators must develop curricula which will prepare practitioners to provide health care in today's complex world, and to provide care in future years for a society with changing needs, and in an increasingly technical--and often more independent--care environment. Studies have been conducted to determine the current and essential knowledge and skills needed for competent practice by the new graduate nurse--such as the Essentials study conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 1986; the AACN Generic Baccalaureate Nursing Data Project (Redman, Cassells, & Jackson; 1985). Minimal research has been conducted, however, to determine the degree to which baccalaureate nursing program curricula include essential knowledge and skills and current health care emphases. The literature, in fact, provides little evidence of research utilization in nursing education research; particularly during the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating baccalaureate nursing program curricula. A descriptive research study was conducted with one hundred and thirteen (113) respondents from accredited generic baccalaureate nursing programs across the continental United States and the Virgin Islands to determine the presence or absence of current health care emphases and essential nursing knowledge and skills in program curricula. Research utilization by nursing educators--specifically the use of the results of the AACN Essentials study in curriculum revision--was also explored in this research. The research instrument was a six page questionnaire developed by the researcher. Findings in this study revealed that content addressing current health care emphases and essential knowledge was included in most nursing curricula through integration within one or more required courses in the curriculum. Differences were noted in the teaching strategies used by programs within public and private institutions, semester and quarter term institutions, and colleges and universities. Program size as well as regional location were found to influence both the content and the teaching strategies included in the nursing curricula to address current health care emphases and essential knowledge and skills. Slightly more than a quarter of the respondents reported utilization of the AACN Essentials study results to make changes in their curriculum.

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