Innovation in Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum Design - A dream or reality?

Abstract

Australia is preparing for significant health system reforms and there has been increasing emphasis on undergraduate nursing programs around the country to prepare future nurses for the rapidly changing healthcare system. The School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONM) at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle and Broome Campus, has recently undergone a review of the undergraduate nursing curriculum in preparation for reaccreditation and quality improvement of the course. The current nursing undergraduate curriculum has been in place for the past decade and although minor modifications has been made to individual units to align with current evidence based practice and contemporary nursing, there has never been a need to restructure the undergraduate curriculum.

A curriculum review committee was formed within the SONM to review the current curriculum with the aim of improving the quality of the program and reviewing the standard of delivery to ensure alignment with the new AHPRA reaccreditation standards. This process of review was done in several phases including mapping of current curricula with Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives (Oliver, Jones, Tucker & Ferns, 2007), mapping with ANMC competencies and the universitys’ graduate attributes and the use of evidence based literature and consultation with unit coordinators and current students’ feedback. A thorough environmental scan was also performed.

The end result is an innovative nursing education model that is future focused and contemporary. This paper will discuss the curriculum review process for an undergraduate nursing course which will provide valuable information to course coordinators and academics embarking on a course review and innovative approaches to curriculum design.

Keywords

Abstract Only, Oral Presentation

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The Author:

Ms Sheena McChlery

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