Plan for Curriculum Development In Nursing Education
What Is Curriculum Development Plan
Basically, there are two ways in which a curriculum can be organized: one way is to place the emphasis on the learning of subjects that the experts in the field consider to be what a nurse ought to know; alternatively, the curriculum can be based on the acquisition of the whole range of skills that the graduate nurse is expected to practice (at defined levels of proficiency) in nursing care Ongoing changes in broad global and national contexts raise questions about the position of nurses and nursing education and whether the legal framework of practice in which nurses operate should evolve with the same momentum that marks healthcare.
Components of Effective Curriculum
The curriculum development plan should contain information about effective instructions including the following:
Measurable learning outcomes
Use direct and indirect methods of measuring learning outcomes Instructional tools or the methodologies planned including multimedia Instructional formats planned including strategies like lecture, demonstration, practical skills etc.
Learning outcomes matrix which matches with the general graduate attributes Evaluation methods based on learning outcome.
National Nursing Council Standards Knowledge
A thorough knowledge of the national nursing council requirements and the competencies required by the council for the nursing graduates will help in planning or revising the new curriculum. The proposed curriculum should reflect upon the basic skills and competencies required from the national nursing council for successful practice.
Knowledge of international nursing council standards:
The goal of the global standards is to establish educational criteria and assure outcomes that:
a) are has on evidence and competency
b) promote the progressive nature of education and lifelong learning
c) ensure the employment of practitioners who are competent and who, by providing quality care, promote positive health outcomes in the populations they serve
The need for global standards has arisen for several reasons the increasing complexities in health care provision, the increasing number of health professionals at different levels, and the need to assure more equitable access to health care. The great variation in the levels of initial education for professional nurses and midwives around the world can no longer be neglected.
A thorough knowledge about the health vision or strategic goals of the country will help the reviewers to base the content of the courses in the proposed study plan. The health care system and infrastructure information will help to plan the content for the courses like community health nursing, public health nursing and advanced care directives. The faculty in the curriculum review committee requires a lot of out of box thinking to incorporate these broad areas into the curricular content.
Knowledge of standards of higher education council of a country is must for the review committee.Each country has its own standards for higher education in par with the international standards. The graduate attributes of the institution should meet the competency levels required by the higher education council.
Bench Marking
Bench marking is a kind of performance improvement process by identifying, understanding and adopting outstanding practices from within the same organization or from other businesses The growing healthcare system demands and encourages ensuring uniform provision of standardized high quality health care to the society. The system of bench marking pushes the boundaries for the best learning and practices. Also, it encourages the use of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles when action planning and implementing improvements.
For the purpose of bench marking, knowledge on local, regional and international college level nursing programs should be included. Bench marking is a well-planned and systematic process with clear objectives and mechanisms to measure, compare and discover innovative practices, evaluate if these suit or adapt practices, and implement improvement. In educational institutes the bench marking is an important decision-making process.
Learning and teaching are thought to be a challenging area to benchmark because it is difficult to quantify the outcomes and performance in learning and teaching.Institutional bench marking is an important tool and an evidence-based process to enhance good learning practices. It can take place at either inter institutional or intra-institutional level.
Bench Marking helps in multiple ways:
Helps in establishing reliable and realistic goals and measures its progress. Monitors the performance based on the mission, vision of the institution.
Helps to set priority in which the area needs to be improved.
Identify similar challenges and facts on the field.
Sample of Curriculum Development Template
This depends on the template approved by the national higher education council of a country. Ideally the institutional curriculum review will have the following areas to be considered to be included in the proposal. An executive summary of the proposal Introduction followed by the institutional vision, mission and goals Program details (example name of the institution, name of the program, title of the degree offered, number of years of program, start and end date of the proposed program , number of students intake, language and mode of instruction, credit hours, major tracks and pathways, any exit points for the program and program fees) Justifications for the program offered (includes local, regional and international trends.) the impact of the program on the society should be emphasized.
Program structure includes the vision, mission and objectives of the program, learning outcomes, graduate attributes, core competencies etc. Program alignment with the vision, mission and objectives of the institution. A note on the recent developments in the nursing profession will help in better explaining the reason for the proposed change.
Program bench marking in comparison with local, regional and international nursing institutes will help to understand and adopt practices from within the same institution or other outstanding organizations. Program study plan, requirements and certification samples. Internship and graduation project requirements and information
Alignment of the program with the national higher education qualification framework. Student characteristics and admission requirements Program design, development and review process.
Attendance, completion requirements and regulations for the program
Library and text book reference materials Faculty requirements for the proposed program
Program planning, monitoring, review, quality assurance and program evaluation. The improvement process of the program the physical resources and infrastructure required for the program The university council and college board approval
Appendix and Attachments Required
It depends on the curriculum revision template. Ideally the following are required to be attached in the appendix. The complete CV of faculty, non teaching faculty, administrative staff and part-time faculty.
Current faculty workload
The course content or syllabus for all the courses in the study plan
The list of library books and journals including virtual library
A blue print of the physical facilities and resources
The financial budget for the proposed new curriculum or revision
Implementation of Curriculum
If it is newly developed one; it should be done in phases. Initial implementation of the proposed curriculum can be done as a trial run. The initial implementation can be carried out over an academic year period. The faculty can practice the new proposed curriculum and give feedback about the feasibility and gaps observed. The trial curriculum can be observed and made into a report so that it helps in completing the final curriculum. The final implementation process is followed by program evaluation.
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