Program evaluation: methods and applications

Program Evaluation Discussion

Evaluation is at the core of designing an appropriate, useful, and up-to-date curriculum. This is especially important in the area of nursing, where medical knowledge and technology is constantly changing. Without an appropriate evaluation method, a curriculum can become outdated or worse, inapplicable, resulting in poor medical care quality from the participants. For this purpose, the following evaluation should be utilized.

The best method of evaluation for in-hospital nursing curriculum is formative evaluation. The reason this method is optimal is because it provides information of not only the curriculum's success, but forecasts any weaknesses within the curriculum. As stated in Keating's text, formative evaluation is intended as a basis for improvement (p. 314). In other words, using this method will allow updates to single parts of the curriculum when necessary. This saves the hospital time and money in needing to recreate the entire curriculum when it becomes too outdated. For instance, should a new needle or protocol be released in the area of Ultrasound Peripheral IV protocols, a hospital using a formative evaluation of the curriculum after each training, would find the areas where the curriculum is lacking and take the few minutes necessary to alter the curriculum, thus keeping the curriculum up-to-date and useful.

The primary key element to my evaluation plan would be benchmarks. The reason that benchmarking would be so critical is that it ensures that the evaluation is specific to the various components of the curriculum. Data would be collected through the qualifying exam at the end of the course curriculum as well as a three-month followup exam by the nurses (Davis, 2003). The second key element would be regular research evaluation, ideally annually. The purpose is to update any out-dated components of the curriculum to keep the curriculum cutting edge. This data would entail two components, a survey completed by the nurses during the course, which asks for input as to whether anything in the curriculum seems outdated. The second component would be an annual audit and fact-check. Finally, the third component would be verifying how the curriculum falls in line with the hospital's master plan. Should the hospital change its overall strategies, those changes should be reflected in the curriculum. Otherwise the curriculum becomes outdated and collects dust on a shelf.

Given that the curriculum is hospital and technology based, the primary accreditation source would be the technology companies. Accreditation verification would also be sought by the National League for Nursing to ensure that the curriculum is inline with other current curriculum.