Nursing curriculum content: an innovative decision-making process to define priorities

Area of Science:

• Health Sciences Education
• Curriculum Development

Background:

• Health sciences curricula face increasing complexity from societal and scientific advancements.
• The short half-life of curricula (approx. 5 years) mandates frequent content and process revisions.
• Nursing faculty often find curriculum revision a challenging and time-consuming process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To focus on the decision-making process for core content and teaching methodologies in health sciences curriculum planning.
• To address the challenges of 'curriculum hypertrophy' caused by attempts to include all health issues.
• To explore different approaches to curriculum content selection, including prioritizing based on staff importance or using consensus.

Main Methods:

• The article focuses on the second stage of curriculum planning: deciding on core content and teaching methodologies.
• It discusses traditional approaches to curriculum decision-making, including extensive debate.
• It examines the issue of 'curriculum hypertrophy' and its causes.

Main Results:

• The 'all-inclusive' approach to curriculum content can lead to uncontrolled expansion without removing outdated material.
• Prioritization of content is sometimes based on individual faculty importance.
• Consensus-based approaches are also utilized for decision-making.

Conclusions:

• Effective health sciences curriculum planning requires strategic decisions on core content and teaching methods.
• Avoiding 'curriculum hypertrophy' is crucial for maintaining a relevant and manageable curriculum.
• Balancing breadth of issues with essential core content is a key challenge in curriculum revision.