Program Evaluation During Curriculum Transition: Student Awareness of Nursing Concepts

BACKGROUND:  Managing the continuous expansion of nursing knowledge is a constant challenge for nurse educators.  A content-based nursing curriculum responds to new information simply by adding selected information to courses. Over time, this practice leads to curricular content saturation and unrealistic student learning expectations. Approaching nursing education from a conceptual approach is a proposed strategy for reforming nursing education. This program evaluation sought to describe a process to assess nursing concept awareness among currently enrolled full-time junior and senior students prior to a revising the content-based nursing curriculum at a select four year liberal arts college to one that will be concept-based.  

METHODS: Using multiple published sources, a paper-pencil survey of 85 discrete nursing concepts was developed to ascertain exposure to and self-reported knowledge of selected nursing concepts. Junior and senior nursing students completed the survey during the third week of the 2013 spring semester.

RESULTS: Eighty of the 107 students participated in the survey, representing a 75% response rate. More senior students (43/50) participated compared to junior students (37/57).  All students reported being exposed to each of the 85 concepts. The proportion of seniors reporting concept exposure was consistently higher than the proportion of juniors. 

IMPLICATIONS: This data demonstrates that students learning in the selected content-based nursing curriculum have the ability to induce the meaning of concepts demonstrating their ability to transition knowledge from specific to general. It is the goal of concept-based-curriculum to support students as they apply generalized concepts to specific care situations thus transitioning knowledge from general to specific. This program evaluation demonstrates a process nursing faculty could employ to assess nursing concept knowledge awareness and acquisition across cohorts during a curriculum transition.