Two Case Studies in Nursing

Jasmine University School of Nursing has worked diligently to develop a new curriculum. Even though the faculty examined the advantages of an upper-division nursing program, they decided to continue with their 4-year integrated curriculum. This new curriculum is based on phenomenology, humanism, and feminism, with a strong focus on community-based nursing while hospital-based practice remains a major component of the curriculum. The introduction of the new curriculum will be coupled with a 50% increase in the class size i.e. from 100 to 150. The faculty faces a significant problem in clinical placements in relation to phasing out the current curriculum and introducing the new one. The introduction of the new curriculum implies that 100 fourth-year students and 75 second-year students will require clinical placements on the same units on the same days in the fall semester.

In light of the problems with clinical placements that will be brought by the introduction or implementation of the new curriculum, the Faculty of Jasmine University School of Nursing needs to make some logistics considerations. The logistical considerations will help in developing appropriate measures to avoid the problem of phasing out the existing curriculum and introducing the new one. The logistical considerations in this case include commitment by all stakeholders to the institution's mission and purpose of nursing education, the philosophical approaches and outcomes of the curriculum, sufficiency of personnel, and scheduling and phasing out the current curriculum (Iwasiw, Goldenberg & Andrusyszyn, 2009, p.269).

Since the problem with clinical placements can result in 40% decrease in the number of family birthing rooms as a result of introducing the new curriculum, the faculty should consider various alternatives to address the situation. One of the alternatives is for the administrators in this school of nursing to request for scheduling for classrooms, laboratories, and practice before the commencement of the term in order to promote careful planning and allocation. Scheduling requests will be crucial for planning and implementation of the new curriculum and phasing out the existing one because of the anticipated increased enrollments, budget limitations, and development of new classrooms and buildings. The scheduling requests will help in course planning and phasing out the current curriculum. Secondly, the faculty can consider hiring additional faculty for some of the teaching. This alternative will assist in providing more teaching so that the placements of 175 students will not happen on the same units on the same days and lead to decrease in the number of family birthing rooms.

Scheduling requests to facilitate course planning and help during phasing out the existing one implies that these students should expect some major changes in their timetables as part of ensuring that the problem with clinical placement is avoided. On the other hand, the faculty and clinical personnel will need to work together in joint planning. This may also require working together with personnel from other nursing institutions and/or programs. In contrast, hiring additional faculty to help in some of the teaching and ensure that the placements do not take place at the same time has some major implications on the faculty and clinical agency personnel. While this alternative will help ensure the faculty is not overstretched, the increase in the number of personnel means there will be need to strive towards fairness in handling workload.

Based on this situation, the faculty should reconsider the design of the curriculum because of its potential impact on students' learning. The need to reconsider the curriculum's design is because it seems the curriculum did not involve all stakeholders during the planning and designing process. During reconsideration, the faculty can prevent such situations when revising a curriculum by involving all stakeholders to promote seamless implementation. The faculty should also examine the educational, administrative, and financial implications of a new curriculum before design and implementation (Uys & Gwele, 2005, p.84). The other ways include developing an institutional culture conducive to the change and evolutionary planning and resource allocation.

Nursing Accreditation:

A national nursing accrediting body has provided a notification that the nursing program is due for re-accreditation in 3 years. In preparing for the accreditation team, some of the major steps that will be undertaken include establishing communication with the accreditation body, learning about the accreditation standards, and evaluating and documenting student and program outcomes. The plan of action to evaluate and document student and program outcomes will be based on Total Program Systematic Evaluation Plan (TPSEP) by the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio ("Total Program Systematic Evaluation Plan," 2011).

The evaluation components in the plan include the program quality based on its mission and governance based on the previous years of operation. This will be conducted by the program's leaders through official minutes they keep and will last for the next three years. The second evaluation component is the institutional commitment and resources of the program based on whether there are adequate financial and physical resources to support the program. The evaluation of the financial and physical resources will be carried out within the next three years but will be based on every semester. The other components are learning practices and individual student learning outcomes and aggregate student performance and faculty achievements. The evaluation of learning outcomes, student performance, and faculty accomplishments will be carried out based on every examination period or semester. The evaluation will be based on the established policies and procedures for student performance, scheduled intervals, and licensure and certification pass rates. The main evaluation model that will be used in each of these components is data analysis.