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Department of Nursing

Curriculum:

Philosophy/Assumptions

The ASU Nursing faculty embraces the assumptions and standards set forth in the American College of Nursing Essentials of Baccalaureate Education, American Nursing Association's Scope and Standards of Practice, and the American Nursing Association's Social Policy Statement. The mission of the Department of Nursing is to educate nurses who influence the health and quality of life in their communities, states, regions, and the nation. The ASU Department of Nursing philosophy/assumptions follow and the ASU nursing faculty believes that:

Baccalaureate Nursing Education is essential to the health, well being, productivity, and quality of life in the community, state, region, and nation. Undergraduate nursing education prepares individuals for basic entry into nursing practice, while graduate education prepares nurses for advanced or specialty nursing practice. The complexity of health care, the rapidly changing environment in which it occurs, and the expanding roles of nurses require that professional nurses engage in life-long learning.

Educationis a self-directed, yet interactive lifelong process that empowers learners to think critically and grow toward their potential as individuals and contributing members of the profession and society. The essential components of baccalaureate nursing education include liberal education, professional values, core competencies, core knowledge, and role development. The role of faculty is to guide, direct, facilitate and evaluate learning while encouraging curiosity, creativity, critical, and independent thinking as students within the nursing program evolve through the levels of nursing student (novice, beginner, advanced beginner, and competent) as delineated by Benner.

The professional values, core knowledge, and role development evolve through the core competencies as the nursing student progresses from the novice to competent. The levels of nursing students are derived from the work of Benner (1984) and Zerwekh & Claborn (2003) as noted in Tables 1A- 1D below.

Table 1A: Novice Nursing Student Level

NURSING STUDENT LEVEL

Core Competency

Core Competency

Core Competency

Core Competency

 

CRITICAL THINKING

COMMUNICATION

ASSESSMENT

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Novice:
The novice nursing student has no background of experience in the practice environment. Behavior is governed by established rules and is limited and inflexible. The curriculum provides the framework for the student's actions.


The concept of critical thinking is introduced as a problem solving strategy. Integration of information is often instructor driven.


Basic professional communication skills are introduced with limited application. Responses are often subjective and emotional.


Introduction of general health assessment skills with clinical application. Assessment techniques are deliberate and uncertain. The assessment findings are descriptive rather than evaluative.


Technical skills are focused on objective data collection. Performance reflects rote learning of basic nursing skills.

 

Table 1B: Beginner Nursing Student Level

 

CRITICAL THINKING

COMMUNICATION

ASSESSMENT

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Beginner:
The beginning nursing student has limited nursing experience, and relies on basic theory and principles. Practice is viewed as a set of tasks and the student often has a fragmented or partial grasp of situations.


Critical thinking is used to problem solve for patients with predictable outcomes. Student focus is to organize, prioritize, and complete tasks.


Communication is based on standardized procedures and is applied in specialized patient environments. The student displays beginning professional autonomy with instructor oversight.


Introduction and application of patient specific techniques. Utilize prior and newly acquired assessment techniques with specialized patient populations.

 
Technical skills are focused on specialized data collection and reflect specific needs of each patient. Performance is deliberate and adaptable to the circumstances surrounding the patient.

Table 1C: Advanced Beginner Nursing Student Level

 

CRITICAL THINKING

COMMUNICATION

ASSESSMENT

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Advanced Beginner:
The advanced beginner nursing student has had enough experience in actual situations to identify meaningful aspects of global characteristics that can be identified only through prior experience. The student understands and is able to anticipate events in familiar situations. The ability to anticipate events in unfamiliar situations improves as the student progresses through the level.


Critical thinking is used to problem solve for patients with unpredictable outcomes. Student focus is prioritizing multiple tasks to manage complex patients.


Focus is on professional communication with complex patients who have specific communication needs. Communication is deliberate and goal oriented.


Focus is on data collection and interpretation for patients with less predictable outcomes. Assessment techniques reflect increasing organization and efficiency.


Technical skills reflect the complexity of the patient's health status. Rapid acquisition of skills reflects prior mastery of basic concepts.

 

Table 1D: Competent Nursing Student Level

CRITICAL THINKING

COMMUNICATION

ASSESSMENT

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Competent: The competent nursing student is able to differentiate between the aspects of the current situation and those of the future and can select those aspects that are important. The focus on good management of time and skills remains, but the sense of responsibility is higher. The student may have an unrealistic concept of what they can actually handle.

 
Critical thinking reflects abstract and analytical contemplation. Students demonstrate perceptual acuity and responsiveness to the situation.

 
Focus is on autonomous professional communication. The student demonstrates the ability to differentiate skills of involvement with patients (individual, family, and community) and other healthcare providers.

 
Focus is on refining data collection and interpretation for individuals and communities. The student sees the situation in terms of the whole and is able to interpret nuances.


Focus is on continued practice and refinement of all learned skills. The student is focused, definite, discriminatory and organized in technical skills.

 

Major Program Concepts:

The ASU nursing curriculum revolves around the faculty's beliefs about the following primary concepts: patient, health, environment, caring, nursing, core competencies, and professional role development.

Curriculum Model:

The curriculum model for the ASU BSN program (Figure 1) is derived from the Department of Nursing mission and philosophy. Curriculum-related definitions are derived from the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2008, 1998) and are in agreement with other model programs such as South Dakota State University and literature findings. Curriculum-related model follows:

Thing 2

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