Adapting MSN Curricula Based on Community Partner Consensus: A Delphi Study
Background: The ways in which nurses were educated during the last century are no longer adequate for dealing with the realities of healthcare today (IOM, 2011). In a recent report, the IOM stated that nursing curricula needed to be reexamined, updated, and adaptive enough to evolve with patients’ changing needs and improvements in science and technology (IOM, 2010). Initiatives with the goal of updating and improving the relevance of the nursing curricula must be based not only on national organization guidance but also on current credible information from community clinical nursing experts. Often curriculum updates and adaptations are based on anecdotal and incomplete information. Very few studies are done, a priori seeking the expert opinions of community clinical nursing experts prior to curricula update and adaptations.
Methods: This study is in progress. A non-experimental field study approach is being used to conduct this study. The Delphi survey data collection technique is being used. This study is prospective, iterative, and the data will be both quantitative and qualitative in nature. For this study, clinical nurse experts have been recruited from of variety of healthcare agencies located primarily in the western region of the US. The goal is a minimum of 10 participants per round of the Delphi Study. The systematic steps of the Delphi survey methodology are being followed to reach the goal of an informed agreement and consensus among the experts on the specific issues.
Results: The analysis (and study) will be complete and results will be available by the date of the conference. It is anticipated from an early review of the data from round 3 of this Delphi Study, that consensus on the Delphi Study items will be reached at the conclusion of round 3 (October 2014). Final analysis and interpretation of the study data will occur November – December 2014. This study will be complete January 2015.
Implications: It is hoped that the results of this Delphi Study will provide the needed information, based on the expert opinions of community clinical nursing experts, to guide curricula update and adaptations of the Master’s in Nursing Program.
IOM (Institute of Medicine). (2010). The Future of Nursing, Focus on Education.
Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
IOM (Institute of Medicine). (2011). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change,
Advancing Health. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.