Comparison of results of Chinese and American forecasting of nursing curriculum needs

This study used Mengel's (1987) Round Three Questionnaire results from the Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing and baccalaureate nurse educators of Taiwan to compare perceived importance of nursing curriculum needs. The t-test was used as a test of difference between the two groups. Ninety-nine of 129 items were significantly different (p less than .05). This result showed that the forecasting of nursing curriculum needs between R.O.C. and the U.S. generic baccalaureate nursing faculty are different in many ways; specific content areas, sites for clinical experience, and perceived baccalaureate nursing curriculum needs by the year 1995. R.O.C. nurse educators value more highly than the American group six specific content areas: midwifery, nuclear medicine/nursing, space medicine/nursing, geropsychiatry, critical care nursing, and cardiac rehabilitation. American nurse educators pay more attention to 16 specific content areas: palliative care, family and social support systems for the adult, human responses to actual and potential health problems, alcohol, substance abuse and toxicology, life cycle effects on family dynamics, gerentology, health needs of the adolescent, and increasing patient compliance. The emergency care units are placed higher by the R.O.C. nurse educators than by the American group for clinical experiences. R.O.C. nurse educators rated as more important than the American group the ability to speak a second language, the management of contracted nursing services, entrepreneurial activities, and occupational nursing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)