Nursing Education and Curriculum Design Model for Baccalaureate Degree, Academic Progression Models for Licensed Practical/Vocational
Baccalaureate Degree Programs Curriculum Design In Nursing Education, Academic Progression Models and Curriculum Design In Nursing Education, Academic Progression Models for Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses Curriculum Design, Academic Progression Models for Registered Nurses with an ASN or Diploma Curriculum Design In Nursing Education.
Baccalaureate
Degree Programs Curriculum Design In Nursing Education
Baccalaureate degree (BSN, BS, BA) programs
are traditionally offered by 4-year colleges and universities. According to the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2013), 19 states now allow community colleges
to offer bachelor degrees. The graduate of a baccalaureate nursing program is
prepared to deliver care to individuals, families, groups, and communities in
institutional, home, and community settings.
In addition to content related to
specific nursing areas, baccalaureate curricula also include concepts related
to management, community health, nursing theory and research, health policy,
group and team dynamics, and professional issues.
Health promotion, illness
prevention, and patient education may also be emphasized. The baccalaureate
curriculum offers a strong foundation of liberal arts and sciences in addition
to nursing courses.
The program may be designed to require students to take
prerequisite courses in the sciences, arts, and humanities before admission to
the nursing major, or students may be directly admitted to the nursing program
and take these courses concurrently with nursing courses.
Faculty must consider
the issues related to each program design, their philosophical beliefs about
education, the characteristics of the program’s student population, and the
institution’s mission as decisions are made about the design of the curriculum.
It
is imperative for the faculty to construct curricula that are flexible enough
in adapting to changing practice expectations of baccalaureate-prepared nurses,
especially as there is growing evidence and preference for the bachelor degree
as entry into nursing practice (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010).
This
growing evidence supports the need for more baccalaureate-prepared nurses in
the workforce given the data showing increases in patient safety and patient
care outcomes as a result of the practice of baccalaureate prepared nurses.
To
develop contemporary curricula and meet the needs of the workforce, and
consistent with the IOM’s 2010 call for transformational partnerships, there
will be a continuing need to stress the creation of academic practice partnerships
(Niederhauser, MacIntyre, Garner, Teel, & Murray, 2010).
Faculty must
maximize these partnerships as they develop revised program competencies that
include but are not limited to such concepts as clinical reasoning, critical
inquiry, intra and inter professional collaborative practice, leadership,
health coaching, complexity thinking, efficient care management and
coordination, health policy advocacy, evidence based decision making,
information technology, bioterrorism, genetics and genomics, gerontology, and
care redesign. This is certainly not an exhaustive list of competencies but one
that will evolve with the dynamics of a changing health care system.
Academic
Progression Models and Curriculum Design In Nursing Education
Given the multiple entry points into the
nursing profession, and the societal need for nurses who have advanced
education and skills, curriculum designs that promote academic progression are
an important part of the landscape of nursing education. These programs are
designed to provide students a pathway from one educational degree level to
another in an expedited fashion.
These innovations share three main
characteristics: a focus on decreasing the time to move from one academic
degree to another; recognition for prior educational and practical or life
experience; and the ability to transport educational credit. These programs are
critical in partially overcoming the efficiency lost in moving from one degree
program to another.
Academic
Progression Models for Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses Curriculum Design
Often,
students make the choice to begin nursing careers as LPNs or LVNs for a variety
of life reasons. For example, students may desire a short time to program
completion, early entry into the workforce, and affordability. The most common
academic progression models for LPNs are LPN to ASN and LPN to BSN.
Porter Wenzlaff and Froman (2008) described LPN and LVN programs, noting that
they offer an entry point into the health professions that is able to draw a
greater proportion of ethnic and racial minority students, individuals from
disadvantaged personal and academic backgrounds, older students, and students
who may have ESL.
In nursing, a professional field that has not achieved
diversity goals in many areas, this entry point into nursing is a mechanism that
could help the profession become more diverse. Successful programs provide
supportive services to enhance reading comprehension, to develop writing
skills, and to overcome financial obstacles in a supportive environment.
It
is expected that nurse educators will continue to design academic progression
options that facilitate educational transition for individuals licensed as LPNs
and LVNs.
One example of an educational model that promotes academic
progression is the National League for Nursing (NLN) (2010) Education
Competencies Model that identifies outcomes and competencies for all nursing
programs from LPN or LVN through doctoral programs, providing a seamless
transition across nursing programs.
Academic
Progression Models for Registered Nurses with an ASN or Diploma Curriculum Design In Nursing Education
Many
undergraduate nursing program options have been developed to facilitate the
academic progression of RNs within the profession. These programs are designed
to streamline the articulation of curricula between degree programs.
Program
designs vary and depend on the philosophy of the nursing faculty and the
expectations of the parent institution. The most common include the RN to BSN
program and the ASN to MSN programs, which may bypass or grant the BSN during
the period in which the MSN is being earned.
Courses in RN to BSN programs
typically include additional courses in liberal education to meet general
education requirements and to provide graduates with exposure to a broad
educational background. Nursing courses in RN to BSN programs usually encompass
areas of focus that are not included deeply in associate degree or diploma
programs.
Most RN to BSN programs include coursework in community health,
nursing leadership or management, and research- and evidence based practice, as
well as exposure to topics of concern to professional nurses such as
professional communication, health care ethics, and health policy.
Many RN to
BSN programs include a capstone course, facilitating the integration of
learning outcomes. Participation in clinical nursing courses is an expected
aspect of this academic progression model, often occurring through the use of
precepted coursework.
In
recent years, strategies for meeting the needs of diverse learners have led to
the proliferation of successful models for structuring curriculum delivery.
Some programs schedule educational offerings into a day, evening, or weekend
format, allowing the student to continue working while earning credits.
Other
programs combine online and in person delivery, allowing for the support and
collegiality that easily emerges in cohort models of education with the
convenience of the online environment.
Programs that are fully online have also
become common, and allow students to pursue their baccalaureate degree at their
own pace and with a great deal of flexibility (Hendricks et al., 2012).
Although nurses entering the profession with an initial BSN are more likely to
complete a graduate degree in nursing, there is also a proliferation of
academic progression programs facilitating RN (ASN) to MSN degree completion.
Some of these programs grant the BSN degree partway through the program and
others do not. Such RN to MSN programs provide another streamlined pathway
toward advancing the educational level of the nursing workforce.