NURS-FPX 6107 Assessment 2: Course Development and Influencing Factors

Course Development and Influencing Factors

            Nurse educators teach nurse students in the current curriculum of higher education. They also bear the responsibilities of evaluating, developing, and restructuring the curriculum that meets the needs of these students. The accomplishment of the nurse education tasks involves a strong collaborative framework on the part of faculty members and other outside stakeholders (Iwasiw et al., 2020). The internal and external factors affecting nurse curriculum development are interrelated. They are based on philosophies and individual missions aligned to an institution. In the changing dynamics in healthcare, sometimes it becomes necessary for nursing schools to redesign or add a course to the curriculum that would reflect the noted changes in healthcare. Besides, addressing these changes also ensures that nurses receive the best education that can prepare them to be competent nurses and gain the ability to provide quality care. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to examine influencing factors affecting the development of the BNS course.

Course to Include in the BSN Curriculum

            Capella University’s curriculum would benefit from including or adding NUR 350 Culture in BSN nursing. This would be a 3-credit hour nursing course added to the current curriculum. This course would help nurse students develop cultural awareness, better communication skills, and effective assessment techniques and skills. The course would also train nurses to develop intervention techniques for approaching various cultures and ethnic communities. The course would benefit nurses when it appears as a first course in the curriculum. The current first course within the university is nurse informatics. However, changing this culture would give students the necessary skills and knowledge to offer culturally competent care. These skills would also positively influence their attitude and thoughts on approaching the remaining courses within the program.

The Rationale for Adding the Course

            The current issue affecting the world healthcare system is the integration of cultural evolution in meeting the patient outcome. The recent cultural evolution is bound to challenge all healthcare professionals to embark on a journey to develop culturally congruent nurses who can offer competent cultural care (Iwasiw et al., 2020). The changes in demographic patterns, globalization, increased number of multiracial people, and technological integration are part of the current cultural evolution. These changes would increase the need for nurses to be culturally competent in offering care. Again, the intense political changes across the world have increased the number of documented immigrants in the US, leading to an increase in the population of the minority. These changes have increased multicultural and multiethnic groups, resulting in nurse educators’ need to lead the current change.

            Designing the BSN course to meet the current cultural evolution would reflect diverse patient and student populations supporting learning outcomes on cultural competence. The influx of patients and students from different parts of the world would bring a new set of cultures and beliefs that will change the ways of providing care (Chen et al., 2020). The healthcare professionals will be challenged to meet the needs of diverse patients. Therefore, cultural competence is an essential part of the nursing curriculum, and implementing courses like culture in the curriculum would aid future nurses in mitigating the challenge of cultural evolution.

Topical Outline for the Course

            NUR 350 Culture in Nursing will include various topics related to culture and diversity. The course outline (Appendix A) would consist of seven major topics that cover various aspects of multiculturism in nursing. The courses will be spread over a seven-week period, allowing students to cover one topic weekly. Again, exploration and examination of relevant case studies and scenarios would be studied each week to allow students to put what they learn into practice. The course’s final week will require all students to demonstrate their assessment skills in a simulation lab experience. Some of the current courses in the university curriculum will align with Culture in Nursing course, making it a better choice to add to the education curriculum. For instance, the Health Assessment and Promotion course teaches nurses a holistic approach to nursing. This current course will correspond to the topic in Culture in Nursing called ‘strategies to reduce bias during assessment”. Both courses address health assessment but from diverse perspectives. Therefore, NUR 350 Culture in Nursing would augment the current courses in nursing to equip them with the recent nursing skills.  

Collaboration

            In the attempt to add a new course to an existing curriculum, collaboration among the interdisciplinary group is essential. Working groups and committees are formed to meet and review the current curriculum and the addition of a new course. The collaboration between deans, school management, students, and staff will define a successful curriculum change. Again, the team composition that will lead the work of developing the curriculum is important as they aid in meeting the desired success (Iwasiw et al., 2020). The collaboration, in this case, would be between groups composed of tenured and untenured faculty with diverse backgrounds and skills, nursing students, and faculty with current experience in practice (Iwasiw et al., 2020). The school support and external stakeholders will also form part of the collaboration, and they can be approached individually to capture their opinion on restructuring the curriculum.

            The decision to introduce a new curriculum in the BSN program will be affected by the knowledge of the faculty members, interpersonal dynamics within the school, and the credibility of those supporting the change of the curriculum (Bokonjic et al., 2019). The collaboration between the heads of the faculty and nursing committees would be significant in developing an effective process of changing the curriculum. The said collaboration between the noted stakeholders can be undertaken through zoom meetings, video conferencing, emails, WhatsApp groups, and personal meetings among the institution’s members.

Internal Factors Affecting the Proposed Curriculum Design

            Various internal factors affect the curriculum design. These factors include organizational processes, curriculum committees, and internal review bodies. The organization process defines what steps must be taken to approve a change in the curriculum. While some private universities require single approval from nursing faculty, other institutions may need a comprehensive, multilevel approval process involving different committees’ opinions and decisions (Chen et al., 2020). The process developed by the institution complicates or eases the changes in the curriculum. For example, the process, like the annual work cycle, influences the plan for beginning and completing the curriculum development process (Chen et al., 2020).

            The curriculum committee is another factor affecting the change of any curriculum. The committees must approve and change the study hours to incorporate the new course. The committees must assess the institution in terms of readiness by determining its current approval process and the channels that will be followed to approve the new course. The approval of changes and curriculum proposals must go through the local level, which is the nursing curriculum committee (Iwasiw et al., 2020). The next level would be the dean and the college committee. Finally, the course would be approved by the all-college curriculum committee, and their recommendation would lead the proposed course to the faculty for final approval.

            The internal review process also affects curriculum development. The internal process would include the opinions of the faculty and students. In the event of proposing a new educational program or revising an existing curriculum, thoughts need to be directed to the existing features of faculty and student organization, forming part of the internal review process (Iwasiw et al., 2020). The faculty will decide to participate in the education program because a high student ratio supports the curriculum change. The skills and expertise of the faculty will need to be taken into account because there is a need to have enough faculty teaching the proposed program at the university. For instance, if the program is designed for new nurses, the older nurses looking to obtain BSN would not benefit from the new curriculum.

External Factors Affecting the Proposed Curriculum Design

            Funding is an important factor that will affect the curriculum design. Analyzing the proposed program’s finances would provide its developers with important information on the economic aspect of the new program (Bokonjic et al., 2019). Funding affects any potential change, and in this change, funding is a key factor defining its success or failure. A financial assessment and business plan will be done to assess the program would need additional sources of funds to support its implementation.

            The stakeholders would as well affect the curriculum development. Involving stakeholders in the early and preceding stages of implementation aids in strengthening their collaboration with the school of nursing (Bokonjic et al., 2019). The stakeholders could as well be institutions that fund the institution and must be included in the considered changes to the curriculum. Failure to consider the stakeholders would affect their approval of the program.

            Another external factor affecting curriculum development is the regulatory and accrediting agencies. The accrediting bodies of the institution have set policies and standards that the curriculum must meet. Any proposed change must be submitted to the accreditation bodies for approval. A new or any program under revision must meet state regulations to ensure compliance with the agency guidelines. For instance, the Capella University nursing program is accredited by Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Therefore, the new course must also meet these standards to be implemented in the curriculum.

Mission, Philosophy, and Parent Institution Impact

            A mission statement exists in all organizations and defines the institutions distinguishing character. The mission statement relays more information on some of the values that an organization stand for or seem to be championing (Chen et al., 2020). Most students and stakeholders use the mission statements if they want to be affiliated with a particular school. The parent institution’s mission, philosophy, purpose, and goals communicate more on a nursing program. The nursing school must evaluate itself based on the quality of nursing education, service, and scholarship programs (Iwasiw et al., 2020). The changes in the curriculum program need to support the current mission and values of the nursing school. The curriculum must hold true to the school’s mission and philosophy of the parent institution. For instance, if the current aims to prepare its student for public service, then the nursing school must ensure its current outcomes are consistent with its philosophy. Besides, the nursing graduates need to have a strong foundation in service and patient care.

External and Internal Collaboration

            The internal and external stakeholders aim to use the new program to produce nurse graduates who are competent and skilled in every aspect of nursing. These stakeholders present an array of entities within and outside the institutions that aid in creating an effective interprofessional collaboration (Bokonjic et al., 2019). Important goals like curriculum development rely on communication excellence, interprofessional collaboration, and a team-based model to pass through its implementation stage. Therefore, external and internal groups represent interests from different groups that play a significant role in curriculum development.

Conclusion

            Designing and developing a new course is a procedural system that requires approval from various departments. The needed approvals imply that the curriculum’s proposed design or development must be well thought out to convince internal and external stakeholders. Besides, internal and external factors play a major role in the curriculum development process. Therefore, developing a better collaboration between the factors would affect the successful implementation of a new program.

References

Bokonjic, D., Racic, M., Mašic, S., Oruc, M., Rybarova, L., Vidovic, K., … & Seiti, L. (2019). Competence-based curriculum development in nursing education: a story from the Western Balkans. Nursing Education Perspectives, 40(6), E28-E30. doi: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000521

Chen, H. C., Jensen, F., Chung, J., & Measom, G. (2020). Exploring faculty perceptions of teaching cultural competence in nursing. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 15(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2019.08.003

Iwasiw, C., Andrusyszyn, M., & Goldenberg, D. (2020). Curriculum development in nursing education. ProQuest Ebook Central  https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.library.capella.edu/