Curriculum for Medical Training Intervention

• Length: 3 pages
• Sources: 3
• Subject: Health - Nursing
• Paper: #24921450
• Related Topics: Curriculum Development, Curriculum Planning, Trauma, Physician Assistant

Excerpt from :

Medical trauma triage management requires skillful curriculum development, which in turn depends on an assessment of needs and an anticipation of potential barriers to implementation. The initial needs assessment has revealed required resources of about four or five medical services providers such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Support personnel may be provided, but an additional challenge will arise when implementing the curriculum in a real world setting such as a trauma center, emergency room, or intensive care unit. Adequate space and time must be carved out for the curriculum implementation, without disturbing standard operating procedures. At the same time, improving trauma triage management will ultimately facilitate patient service delivery and maximize care outcomes, goals that should continually be communicated to the institutional administration as well as all participants in the program.

Each phase of the ADDIE model, an industry benchmark for curriculum development, "requires constant evaluation," (Allen, 2006, p. 439). Evaluation from curriculum developers must be supplemented by office and institutional support. Formal institutional support is more likely when curricular elements are presented with technological tools and presentation aids including flow charts, content checkpoints, formative tests, assessments, and other potentially distracting but nevertheless useful tools in the arsenal of persuasion and implementation (Swanson & Holton, 2009). Resistance from within the office might come from fears that the curriculum will be costly or interfere with operations taking place in the trauma wards, but these concerns can be easily alleviated by referring to successful program implementations, even from competitors. Regular communication will also help deflect resistance.

Administrative structure will ideally support the implementation of the curriculum, as it will improve health outcomes and the overall reputation of the institution. However, the curriculum developers do need to remain vigilant of potential problems and responsive to criticisms made by administrators and program participants. Although decisions will be made solely by program designers, there are administrative decisions that are tantamount to those needs expressed by the curriculum developers. To ensure the smooth functioning of the curriculum, it would be best if it were grounded in evidence-based practice and accompanied by slide show presentations (Swanson & Holton, 2009). Using ongoing communication tools can help to implement the curriculum with maximum effectiveness at all stages of its evolution from planning to assessment.

Anticipated barriers include budgetary and time constraints, personnel resistance to the additional demands on their schedules, and disruptions to work in trauma units. Other barriers to implementation include potential competition from alternative sources of curriculum. The latter problem can be resolved by skillful marketing of the main messages in…