Concept-based curriculum (CBC) is a newer trend in nursing education curriculum aimed at preparing new graduates to enter the workforce as generalist nurses better suited to care for a more medically complex population. Using CBC, students are introduced to concepts in order to build conceptual understandings as they engage in knowledge and skill learning, as opposed to a traditional nursing curriculum that is taught in sections grouped by patient population and medical complexity. At a nursing school housed within a private university in the southeast, the traditional nursing curriculum was replaced with CBC in 2016. To better understand the preparedness of new graduate nurses, students graduating from both traditional curriculum and CBC curricular designs were asked about their perception of preparedness in five specific areas during their first three months of clinical practice. The results of the explanatory mixed-methods survey, which consisted of Likert scale responses and qualitative data, showed no statistically significant difference in perception of preparedness between the two groups. The outcomes of each individual curricula were not dramatically different, but the actionable data reinforces the importance of clinical learning
