Essay Sample on Nursing Curriculum

Introduction

Nursing curriculum requires other courses for learners to have an extensive knowledge that can help them provide high quality care. Several courses should be included in the nursing curriculum, and they include psychology, physiology, nursing fundamentals and women and infants (Adamson, Kardong-Edgren, & Willhaus,2013). These courses are essential in enhancing the skills of learners undertaking the nursing course. The appropriate course therefore that must be included in the nursing curriculum is pharmacology because nurses are also required to understand drugs, what they do and the extent to which drugs exert toxic effects when used by human beings for treatment.

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Course Description

It is essential to include pharmacology in the nursing curriculum. The course helps in teaching students undertaking nursing methodology to the study of pharmacologic agents. It is done to assess pharmacopeia (Wiles, 2014). The main focus of this course is to understand the basic principles of topics related to biophysics, biochemistry, and physiology associated with the action of drugs or medicines which are used in managing certain diseases. It also refers to biodistribution and metabolism, information relevant to students when offering nursing care to patients. In this course, there is a need to have lectures and learners -led discussions covering topics necessary when administering drugs to patients. The most critical issues include mechanism of medicine action, dosages that should be provided, the system of delivering drugs, drug metabolism and others.

The Rationale for Adding a Course to Curriculum

The logic of adding a course in the nursing curriculum is to impart students with more knowledge that allow them to offer high quality care. Since healthcare is ever-changing career and it is understood by nursing colleges, it is also necessary to evolve with it to ensure that the learners are more successful in their study (Wiles, 2014). The introduction of a new course due to demand for the change helps students to be equipped with the required knowledge. Currently, nurses are expected to know much more content than ever before. Adding additional courses, therefore, ensure that the students cover more materials within a shorter time than ever before. All these come due to current changes. Previously there has been overwhelming content saturation for the learners and the Nursing colleges, the introduction of other courses, therefore, acts as a solution to that problem (Todd et al., 2017). The addition of these courses, thus, eliminates incidences of repetition in various classes which have been a problem for many years. These changes ensure that nurses are educated differently to address the realities of 21st-century health care (Billings & Halstead, 2011). These can be achieved through adopting a concept-based curriculum which only offers the materials that the students need when providing their services and also ensures they have critical thinking ability they require offering best patient care.

A topical Outline for Pharmacology Course

1. Description of the course

This course offers practical and theoretical approaches to pharmacology. It uses various learning materials like questions, case studies and even student discussions to ensure student masters critical concepts of this course.

Topic Overview

• Introduction to pharmacology
• Smoking Cessation
• Mental Health (Depression/Anxiety)
• Hypertension
• Angina/Dyslipidemia/MI/Stroke
• Men's Health (BPH and erectile dysfunction)

Outcome

• After going through this course, the students will be in a position to demonstrates
• To use basic principles which allow students to receive accurate information relating to the topic they are covering.
• It also allows students to acquire knowledge that ensures they can describe essential elements of pharmacology such as therapeutics, anatomy, and physiology
• Describe some medical terminologies and other acronyms that are being used in pharmacology
• Be able to discover trade and generic names, doses to be offered to students and understanding how to give direction for the use of different drugs.

The Collaboration of Faculty Members When Designing New Curriculum

Faculty members must collaborate with teachers and students when designing a new curriculum (Adamson et al., 2013). The collaboration of faculty members with teachers is an essential element which eliminates resistance of teachers and students towards embracing the new curriculum. It is done through influencing teacher's competencies and practices when designing new curriculum (Billings & Halstead, 2011). Teachers and students should be allowed to contribute and give their opinion when creating a new course so that they develop a feeling that the faculty members also recognize their effort. Through collaboration, teachers and students even do not feel left out when designing a new curriculum and therefore feel important when included in the discussion of the new curriculum. The faculty members must also accept and seek their opinion regarding changes in the new curriculum and ensure that some of their views are incorporated within the shift. For this to be achieved better, it is essential to use teacher development and simulative curriculum design.

Effects of Internal Factors on Curriculum Design

Several internal factors affect curriculum design. These factors include organizational processes, curriculum committee, and inner review bodies. The operations of the organization can either promote or discourage curriculum design (Todd et al., 2017). The organization processes cannot allow the faculty members to have sufficient time to discuss or collaborate with other members when designing new curriculum. Lack of enough time because the faculty members or teachers are engaged in other processes ensures that there is improper deliberation on the critical issues about the new curriculum (Wiles, 2014). Also, engagement of other members in other activities prevents vital stakeholders such as teachers from giving their opinion regarding the new curriculum development, and this possibly leads to resistance. Curriculum committee also affects the curriculum design either positively or negatively (Billings & Halstead, 2011). The availability of curriculum committee is essential in ensuring that there is proper collaboration and planning to support new curriculum design adequately. The committee can also ensure that all the members or stakeholders are included in the design so that there is no resistance due to lack of involvement. Proper organization for curriculum design is a way of coming up with a good design that all the stakeholders accept. The committee also offers good leadership which promotes the result of the design team (Todd et al., 2017). The committee is capable of aligning all the design activities by the national reforms and this ensure that there is relevance on the work being done. Internal review bodies are also crucial in providing that the faculty members are designing a new curriculum by the accepted reforms (Billings & Halstead, 2011). They check and review the part of the curriculum which has been developed and ensures it meets the standards of the current students learning.

Effects of External Factors on Curriculum Design

External factors such as funding, stakeholders and regulatory and accredited agencies affect curriculum design at a great deal. Curriculum design is also affected by the politics of the region which influence the introduction of policies to regulate the design and development of new curriculum design (Wiles, 2014). Politics affect different institutions, primarily how they are funded. Because fund drives everything from those involved and the kind of delivery is used, it is essential to ensure that the organization participating in the development of a new curriculum have sufficient funds that can support what they are doing (Iwasiw & Goldenberg, 2015). Funding is a form of expression in which the government or stakeholders show their commitment and therefore when there is an insufficient fund it means that the Government is not committed in the development of new curriculum design.

Social factors also affect curriculum design, the tradition, religious beliefs, laws is capable of making some people view new curriculum in another perspective. With culture, it is challenging to add a new course within the curriculum if it is likely to produce more benefits that what used to be there before (Billings & Halstead, 2011). As a result, it is expected to inhibit change and creation of a new curriculum which seems to dominate the old one. Also, religious beliefs also affect the design of the new curriculum (Todd et al., 2017). The curriculum that does not accommodate acceptable religious believes they cannot be implemented because people whose beliefs have not been considered must reject it thus impends curriculum design (Wiles, 2014). For most people to accept new curriculum design, it is essential to consider most accepted values and beliefs without imposing one denomination over others is likely to cause resistance and therefore new curriculum must be able to protect the law of the land and schools. This is likely to ensure that curriculum design mirror the society and its contents.

Impacts of Mission, Philosophy, and Framework of the Program and Parent Institution on Curriculum Design

Philosophy is shown what the community aspires to achieve and therefore it is essential in ensuring that a new curriculum is developed that captures the interest of the city. It, thus, helps in the development of goals, objectives, mission, and programs aimed at ensuring that there is a successful design of a new curriculum without the resistance of stakeholders (Wiles, 2014). These factors, therefore, ensure that a new curriculum is designed tailored in a manner that constitutes deed-experiences that makes the student become the kind of adult they want. They also ensure that the new curriculum has the desirable qualities which provide the society to grow in the right direction (Adamson et al., 2013).

Furthermore, through philosophy, it is easy to find out what all the stakeholders in curriculum design aspire and anticipate in their purposeful education. The mission is a driving force which gives the stakeholders the need to develop a new curriculum (Billings & Halstead, 2011). It, therefore, motivates the stakeholders and ensures they work tirelessly towards the achievement of the objectives of new curriculum design.

The Type of Collaboration Between External and Internal Stakeholders

Having participative collaboration between internal and external stakeholders is essential. This kind of cooperation is usually called collaborative curriculum development which requires the involvement of all the stakeholders in the critical decision-making process. Internal and external stakeholders must be given the opportunity to share their views and perception towards a new curriculum (Todd, Hawkins, Hercinger, Manz, Tracy & Iverson, 2017). The students, teachers, faculty members, the Government, local community and even other education agencies must be given an opportunity to participate in decision making, and their views are incorporated in the new curriculum design (Wiles, 2014). This ensures that the new curriculum designed to reflect the interest of all the stakeholders thus eliminating their resistance which is likely to impend the implementation of the new curriculum design.

Conclusion

In curriculum design collaboration and involvement of all stakeholders is very important. It ensures that there is no resistance of other stakeholders which support the successful development of the new curriculum. The design of a new curriculum is also affected b...