Stakeholders’ Opinion on the Desired Characteristics of Nursing School Graduates and Factors Concerning Nursing Curriculum Development inThailand1

Effective higher educational management in undergraduate nursing programs is animportant issue from the viewpoint of stakeholders. This qualitative research aimed toexamine the characteristics of nursing students and curriculum development ofundergraduate nursing education from the opinions of Boromarajonani College of NursingSaraburi, Thailand stakeholders. The population included 4 groups: 1) the alumni who havegraduated within the past 5 years and currently work in primary, secondary, and tertiarycare units, 2) the supervisors and colleagues of the alumni, 3) nursing lecturers, and 4) thecurrent nursing students. The respondents who are the alumni, nursing lecturers, andcurrent nursing student were selected using a purposive sampling, for the supervisors andcolleagues were selected using snowball techniques. Semi-structured interview questionswere used for data collection. Group discussions were conducted until saturation on 55 keyinformants. The qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Results showed theviewpoints of stakeholders on the characteristics of future nurse graduates werecomprised of four elements: knowledge that meets standards; essential skills for selfdevelopmentand lifelong learning process; good morals and professional ethics in providing nursing care; and nurse competencies in teamwork, communication, language, research, management, IT, life skills, and global literacy. The viewpoints on the development of the nursing curriculum focus on four elements: the learner, teaching andlearning, course content, and instructor tasks. For learners, the admission criteria shouldinclude a minimum not only of knowledge, but also positive attitude, science, and art skills,since the nursing profession is both a science and the art of caring. Teaching and learningelements should be authentic, including exposure to real situations, an integrated network,and activities that improve nursing care. Course content was comprised of an updatedcurriculum, humanized nursing care, student center, theory and practice with moralintegration, case-based study, critical thinking, multidisciplinary work, and love for thenursing profession. Instructor tasks are to elicit student ideas, provide opportunities tolearn, support infrastructure, support technology use, and extra-curricular activities todevelop the competencies of nursing students. Recommendations were that the curriculumadministration should review the selection process of student candidates and instructionalmanagement to achieve expected outcomes of nursing characteristics in the future. Thenurse lecturer should provide authentic and integrated instruction, decrease lecturing,cultivate a lifelong learning process, and sustain the nursing characteristics