Then, of course, there is the matter of the learning curve in professional education. If one compares schooling for registered nurses with that of physician's assistants or physicians, one often sees a growing gap between the clinical abilities of nursing staff and actual patient care needs. This cause has been attributed to deficiencies in some skill sets of new graduates -- which has the effect of pushing nursing schools and curriculum toward more robust materials (Berkow, Virkstsis, Sewart, and Conway, 2008). However, is the solution simply adding more materials to memorize and read, or might it be more efficient to take a look at the time frame of the educational experience and ask how it can be more efficiently portioned for maximum effect. Giving students more materials without any thought to how those materials will be used does not improve their cognitive skills, nor their ability to act within a clinical setting. Indeed, there is only so much information that a student can absorb in a given amount of time. Because clinical training is so important, and because it needs more attention, a shift in curriculum that allows for a more robust packing of coursework toward the beginning of the experience, and less bookwork and more clinical work toward the later part -- say end of 2nd year on, would assist both patient and organization (Burritt and Steckel, 2009).

One of the issues surrounding clinical practicum for modern nurses is that there is not enough time in the clinical segment. These nurses are not finished with their academic requirements, and often need additional clinical time once hired. Clinical criteria is far more meaningful to the new nurse for a variety of reasons. First it takes theory out of the book and places it in a realistic setting. Since humans...

Second, clinical practice requires flexibility and adaptability -- not segmentation. The client is a whole person and requires a diagnosis and care plan that is holistic and not specific to one course or another -- requiring the synthesis of vase amounts of data into a more cogent technique of application (Holzmer, 2006).
Frankly, placing actual practical nursing later in the curriculum would serve two major improvements: 1) it would allow a more robust and greater clinical experience, and 2) it would allow the student to concentrate on two separate aspects of their nursing studies -- theory and practice- at different times, doing more justice to both in the process.

REFERENCES

Berkow, Virkstsis, Sewart, and Conway. (2008). Assessing New Graduate Nurse Performance. Journal of Nursing Administration, 38(11), 468-74.

Burritt and Steckel. (2009). Supporting the Learning Curve for Contemporary Nursing Practice. Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(11), 479-84.

Heller, Oros, and Durney-Crowley. (2009, July 30). The Future of Nursing Education: Ten Trends to Watch. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from http://www.nln.org/nlnjournal/infotrends.htm

Holzmer, W. (2006). Quality in Graduate Nursing Education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 26(4), 236-43.

Koenig-Blais, K. (2010). Professional Nursing Practice (6th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.

Speziale and Jacobson. (2009). Trends in Registered Nurse Education Programs. Nursing Education Perspectives, 26(4), 230-5.