Accelerating Curriculum Design: A Love It, Don\u27t Leave It Approach to Creative Process and Idealized Design

Purpose and Background: The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report (2010) on the “Future of Nursing” emphasized the need for nurses to lead health care change. One of the key messages in this report is a call to action for nursing schools to re-envision nursing education that focuses on a population-based perspective and emerging roles for nurses across the care continuum. With an evolving focus on primary and community-based care rather than acute care, and recognition of the importance of coordinating care and managing transitions across providers and settings of care, registered nurses now and in the future will need to be prepared with a breadth of knowledge, skills, and competencies. In response, the Jefferson College of Nursing (JCN) embarked on the ambitious task of designing a new 21st century baccalaureate nursing curriculum over a 13-month period. Nursing curriculum design varies widely and can span the course of two to five years. To reduce the lengthy process and ensure faculty commitment, JCN leadership selected a core team of nine faculty members to navigate the full faculty through the design of the curriculum. Each team member was assigned three teaching credits for curriculum development and design. Although a 13-month turnaround time for curriculum design is unprecedented, what is most unique about JCN’s initiative is that it began with a charge of developing an idealized curriculum from a blank slate. To ensure that the curriculum reflected multiple perspectives, the team recruited six stakeholders including a nurse practice partner, health care consumer, community leader, alumnus, current student, and adjunct clinical faculty. Poster presented at: NLN Education Summit, 2015:Bridging Practice and Education, Las Vegas, Nevada, September 30, 2015-October 2, 2015.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursingposters/1009/thumbnail.jp

The H.E.R.E.© Curricular Model...Educating Nursing Students for 21st Century Health Care

Background: The focus on traditional acute, hospital-based health care is being replaced with a new paradigm aimed at providing primary care, care of populations, and care across transitions and providers. As changes unfold, nursing education is challenged to prepare graduates who can effectively function in new healthcare environments of the 21st century. In response, the Jefferson College of Nursing (JCN) embarked on the ambitious task of designing a new 21st century baccalaureate nursing curriculum over a 13-month period. Although a 13-month turnaround time for curriculum design is unprecedented, what is most unique about JCN’s initiative is that it began with a charge of developing an idealized curriculum from a blank slate. Advised by a curriculum consultant, a group of nine faculty and six key stakeholders (known as the Curriculum Navigators) created ‘The H.E.R.E© Curricular Model’ which provides a framework for a nursing curriculum that is forward thinking and contemporary. The four major themes of the H.E.R.E© model, Interprofessional Collaboration, Innovation, Population Health and Practice Excellence, are the foundation for the curriculum model as well as the curriculum’s organizing framework statement, Promoting Health and Quality of Life along the Care Continuum. A concept-based approach based on Giddens book (2013) organizes the curriculum concepts. Traditional clinical experiences were replaced with “Immersions” that encompass objectives from concurrent courses and connect didactic concepts to patient care experiences across the health care continuum and settings. Poster presented at: American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), 2016 Baccalaureate Education Conference: Innovating Nursing Education to Improve the Health of the Nation. Anaheim, California. November 17-November 19, 2016.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursingposters/1010/thumbnail.jp