Creating a Culture of Caring: A Shared Academic-Practice Clinical Curriculum

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Clinical Practice Integration
• Healthcare Workforce Development

Background:

• Traditional nursing education relies on academic faculty-led programs.
• Healthcare practice settings incur costs for new graduate nurse (RN) transition support.
• A disconnect exists between academic preparation and practice readiness for RNs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the gap in nursing student preparation between academic and practice settings.
• To develop a collaborative framework for nursing education.
• To enhance the readiness of generalist RNs for practice.

Main Methods:

• Academic and practice partners collaborated to develop a core clinical curriculum.
• Supporting content and learning activities were integrated into the curriculum.
• A teaching-learning framework, the Culture of Caring (COC) Model, was implemented.

Main Results:

• The Culture of Caring (COC) Model serves as a guiding framework for academic and practice partners.
• The model facilitates enriched clinical experiences for nursing students.
• Enhanced student readiness for the practicing RN role was observed.

Conclusions:

• The COC Model provides a structured approach to nursing student preparation.
• A comprehensive clinical curriculum bundle supports the COC Model.
• Resources include handbooks, workbooks, faculty guides, calendars, and student cards to enhance clinical learning.