Radical transformation: Embracing constructivism and pedagogy for an innovative nursing curriculum

To effectively navigate today's complex and rapidly changing health care environments, nurses require a high level of knowledge, sound psychomotor skills, diverse thinking and reasoning abilities, and a strong professional identity. The evidence showed that programs that offer students focused clinical practice experiences and offer students opportunities to 'think like a nurse' enable them to become sound practitioners. Faculty and staff at one mid-sized research-intensive university in Western Canada, engaged in an iterative process of rethinking the theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings of a BSN curriculum for educating nurses for the complexity of today's practice. Constructivist learning theory was chosen as the main underpinning of the revised curriculum. Furthermore, transformational learning theory guided the selection of several pedagogical approaches utilized throughout the program with the goal of inviting critical reflection and encouraging the development of competent, compassionate, ethical, and professional nurses. Additionally, we employed an innovative approach to clinical practicums where the process of learning is both integrated and intentional, and students are mentored to use prior knowledge in their decisions and clinical reasoning.