CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT ISSUE PAPER

Understanding of issues within curriculum development

Introduction

 In the past decades, nurses have taken part in a movement that reflects major changes more than two decades in combination in human history. New directions in nursing education in the 1960s was that nursing to be applicable in science. It marked a new entry to the nursing professionals in a new knowledge age. It was until the mid-1920s that it was apparent that having new knowledge was not just enough. There was the need to transform the new knowledge into useful forms so as to better transform the outcomes of patients. The new knowledge had to be implemented in the entire team of care within the context of systems and measured as per the impact they had on performance as well as health outcomes.

Thesis statement

The competencies include the utilization of knowledge in the production of research evidence from interventions and making clinical decisions that promote the use and take by individual and groups of providers. These competencies can only the attained through incorporating high-quality outcomes and evidence-based practices in preparing undergraduate nurses for their future careers.

1. The problem for employment

The currently articulated vision for nursing is the report by IOM on The Future of Nursing Report. The report states the need for quality, new functions, and knowledge in nursing convergence. It recommends that nurses lead as the inter-professional teams so as to improve care delivery and the necessities for new competencies and outcomes beyond evidence –based practices. These are the requisite for nurses to make a complete transformation in health care. EBP incorporation into the nursing curriculum is a way of hardwiring the present knowledge into decisions for common care that are meant to improve patient outcomes and care process. With the alarming cases that the healthcare deficits cause major preventable harm, there was the need for healthcare to redesign its practices by incorporating the evidence-based practices. Thus, evidence -based practices b provide a great promise in enabling care to be at a higher level and increase the likelihood of providing the desired outcomes in health (Melnyk, & Fineout-Overholt, 2011).

 The impact of evidence-based practice is applicable in nursing education, science and practice. The calls for evidence-based healthcare transformation and quality improvement points out the need to redesign the nursing curriculums. Evidence-based Nursing is a rigorous methodology in which research data on a specific issue or problem is analyzed together and also provides accounting for expert consensus and values. Current economic and social movements involving the continuous quality improvement in education require educators to re-conceptualize their programs effectiveness. Nursing is a professional program that responds to the interests of communities and stakeholders. The calls for incorporating evidence -based practices and consideration of program outcomes in the curriculum are crucial so as to orient the curriculum towards professional practice. The consideration of outcomes of educational programs is all about the need to re-conceptualize the entire outcomes of a program. Glennon (2006) provides suggestions that enable the rethinking of outcomes. One way is to assess the effectiveness of a program based on real outcomes. It also means inviting educators to think of realistic methods of measuring the outcomes of a program.

            Bloom et al. (2012) mention that the integration of evidence-based practice is a vital outcome for nursing education at present of health care reform. The incorporation of EBP into a curriculum is all about developing of a spirit of appreciation and inquiry on the importance of evidence in shaping nursing practice. It is a central aspect of the nursing career for it enables students to have the requisite skills and knowledge (Schmidt, & Brown, 2012).

2. Proposed strategies

There is the need for nursing faculties to re-conceptualize their outcomes from objectives so as to resolve the issues of failing to produce the desired health outcomes. The outcome statement language has to shift from the focus on instruction on worlds such as demonstrate, understand, and use to outcomes focus through the use of words such as synthesize, integrate and create. These verbs mean that the practice for professional nurses is that they integrate research as part of their practice. The integration will enable professionals to combine and integrate various domain of knowledge as they provide care to patients (Glennon, 2004).

 Thus, nursing is a service-oriented profession and the outcomes of educational programs are the most crucial and can be assessed in professional practice. The baccalaureate of graduates and graduate programs for nurses will function as novice in the beginning, but professional practice is always the desired educational purpose. Learning of outcomes intentionally is credible to members of the nursing profession (Stevens, Puga, & Low, 2012).

 The main aim of outcomes is all about the complexity, pattern and whole of a knowledge domain. Therefore, educators have to address questions are those of conceptualizing the things that students should do to determine their academic achievements. For example in the process of the re-conceptualization. An educator can propose that students have to use research evidence in their practice. They should integrate research findings into their professional practice. The educators are also expected to measure student’s ability to integrate research knowledge and not just their use of knowledge (Bloom, and Olinzock, 2013).

Conclusion

 The wide range of social and economic forces have placed the emphasis on learning outcomes, the need to improve learning outcomes of nursing education is also about rethinking from the end-point of practice orientation so that students can integrate their research knowledge and skills into practice. The re-conceptualization of nursing outcomes is intellectual and interactive among the faculty as they engage in dynamic efforts. Re-conceptualization has the purpose of attaining better results especially in enabling students to a better-focused learning.

References

Bloom, C. Olinzock, Barbara J. (2013, Augusts 30). Leveling EBP Content for Undergraduate Nursing Students.

Glennon, C., (2004, February, 26). Reconceptualizing Program Outcomes. Vol. 45, No. 2

Melnyk, B., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2011) Evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare (2nd Ed.)Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA

Schmidt, N. & Brown, J (2012). Evidenced-based Practice for Nurses: Appraisal and Application of Research. (2nd Ed.)Jones & Bartlett Learning, Sudbury, MA

Stevens, K.R., Puga, F., & Low, V. (2012). The instrument ACE-ERI for measuring the readiness to EBP for clinical populations. 

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in best custom research papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order for custom college essay services.