Background: Making changes in the existing curriculum aims, objectives, course contents learning outcomes and assessment strategies have become a fact of life for nurse educators. Purpose: To enhance the existing Bach...Background: Making changes in the existing curriculum aims, objectives, course contents learning outcomes and assessment strategies have become a fact of life for nurse educators. Purpose: To enhance the existing Bachelor of Science (BSc) in nursing curriculum through integration of evidence-based practice (EBP) and teaching of critical thinking skills. Materials and Methods: A needs analysis was conducted using a five-phased approach to review the BSc in nursing Curriculum. Kern’s six-step model was adapted and introduced through a series of workshop exercises that highlighted the application of each step: 1) Desk review of the BSc curriculum offered globally;2) Administration of the needs assessment questionnaire to key informants;3) Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threat analysis;4) Consultative meeting with major stakeholders;5) Curriculum review. Results: The five-phased approach established some gaps in existing curricula, and identified critical core competences and best practices in integrating EPB and critical thinking in the BSc undergraduate curriculum and some “A” level content that was not in tandem with the practice of nurses. New courses were developed to support students in academic writing and enhance professionalism and duration of training was reduced from 5 to 4 years. Conclusion: The process demonstrated that BSc curriculum review, in fact, should be thoroughly scrutinized to encourage positive changes to the curriculum, provide opportunities for team building and the development of leadership skills and a whole-of course perspective on the curriculum.展开更多
文摘Background: Making changes in the existing curriculum aims, objectives, course contents learning outcomes and assessment strategies have become a fact of life for nurse educators. Purpose: To enhance the existing Bachelor of Science (BSc) in nursing curriculum through integration of evidence-based practice (EBP) and teaching of critical thinking skills. Materials and Methods: A needs analysis was conducted using a five-phased approach to review the BSc in nursing Curriculum. Kern’s six-step model was adapted and introduced through a series of workshop exercises that highlighted the application of each step: 1) Desk review of the BSc curriculum offered globally;2) Administration of the needs assessment questionnaire to key informants;3) Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threat analysis;4) Consultative meeting with major stakeholders;5) Curriculum review. Results: The five-phased approach established some gaps in existing curricula, and identified critical core competences and best practices in integrating EPB and critical thinking in the BSc undergraduate curriculum and some “A” level content that was not in tandem with the practice of nurses. New courses were developed to support students in academic writing and enhance professionalism and duration of training was reduced from 5 to 4 years. Conclusion: The process demonstrated that BSc curriculum review, in fact, should be thoroughly scrutinized to encourage positive changes to the curriculum, provide opportunities for team building and the development of leadership skills and a whole-of course perspective on the curriculum.
