Curriculum Development - Essay Example

Curriculum Development Curriculum Development Introduction ‘The essentials of baccalaureate education for professionalnursing practice’ and ‘The essentials of master’s education in nursing’ are the two working papers published by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Based on these readings, this paper will reflect how the essential factors discussed can guide and hinder curriculum development in nursing. How they guide? The essentials of baccalaureate nursing and master’s education in nursing play a significant role in guiding curriculum development in nursing.

Liberal education encourages broadening knowledge of science, cultures, and society; and in addition, this concept promotes acquiring improved intellectual and practical skills and commitment to social responsibility (American Association of College of Nursing, 2008). Hence, liberal education greatly assists nursing candidates to effectively work in a culturally diverse healthcare environment and to address various complex problems and challenges successfully. It is clear that a nursing practitioner cannot treat a patient effectively unless he/she has expertise in human management.

Knowledge from different areas of science and humanities would enable nursing professionals to deliver better health services in community care settings (American Association of College of Nursing, 2011). Similarly, organizational and systems leadership are vital to enhance quality care and patient safety, which are the two fundamental principles of health care (American Association of College of Nursing, 208). More clearly, a nurse needs to manage different complex and emergency situations during the course of patient care and therefore better leadership skills can foster curriculum development in nursing.

At the same time, extensive quality improvement practices are better to minimize the chances of medical errors and other mistakes. Under evidence based nursing practice, practitioners monitor patient outcomes and recognize practice issues (American Association of College of Nursing, 2008). Evidently, this practice would contribute to patient safety. Today, the information technology has developed unimaginably and this explosive advancement in turn can play a great role in improving the quality of care.

Hence, nursing candidates are required to be informed of information management practices and patient care technology applications. Currently, patient records are stored in electronic formats in order to obtain easy and fast access to patient data and to respond to critical situations immediately. It is obvious that better communication and cooperation among nursing practitioners are inevitable to provide patient-centered care and to deliver improved patient health outcomes (American Association of College of Nursing, 2008).

Improved communication skills are also crucial to acquire complete patient information and to avoid circumstances where some key patient information goes unnoticed. Clinical prevention of diseases and other serious health conditions is another essential requirement of baccalaureate as well as master’s education nursing because it is the only way to promote population health (Federal Register Volume 78, Number 75). Maintaining professionalism and promoting professional values are extremely important to the nursing curriculum development as they add to the reputation of this profession (American Association of College of Nursing, 2011).

How they hinder? Some of these essentials also hinder the curriculum development in nursing. Some healthcare policies and regulatory environments negatively impact the nursing practices and thereby the effective delivery of health services. Since regulatory agencies limit the boundaries and scope of nursing practice, it becomes often difficult for the nursing candidates to fulfill their long term career development goals. Evidently, this situation may lead to a higher staff turnover ratio, which in turn will result in a worse nurse to patient ratio.

As discussed already, knowledge from science, humanities, information technology, and many other subjects are essential for nursing practitioners to achieve their curriculum objectively. However, it would not be an easy task for majority of the nursing candidates to gain such a huge pool of knowledge, and hence they often fail to meet their curriculum goals properly. Similarly, there may be lack of adequate nursing mentors who can effectively address the needs of a complex nursing curriculum development.

While translating and integrating scholarship into practice, nursing practitioners must maintain an inquiring attitude and give focus to ethical values (American Association of College of Nursing, 2011). However in practice, a notable percent of nursing candidates do not have a questioning attitude and they do not give much emphasis to ethical translation of current evidence into practice. Finally, gaining expertise in healthcare technologies like data management would be a cumbersome task for nursing candidates who are not much skilled in handling technology.

Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that the essentials of baccalaureate nursing and master’s education nursing can guide and hinder curriculum development in nursing. Evidently, these essentials can enable nursing practitioners to work in a culturally diverse care and to meet their social responsibility effectively. In addition, evidence based care and translation of evidence into practice can improve quality of the care and patient safety. Ultimately, these essentials are potential to promote clinical prevention of diseases and to improve overall population health.

However, since these essential requirements may be difficult for an average nursing candidate to meet, they may hinder the effective nursing curriculum development. References American Association of College of Nursing. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. American Association of College of Nursing. (March 21, 2011). The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing. Federal Register Volume 78, Number 75. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-04-18/html/2013-08935.htm