Quality assurance of test blueprinting

Tests offer scores that measure student learning and programs outcomes. Valid examinations are needed to accurately reflect scores related to dimensions of knowledge, analysis and different competencies in health education. The primary step in the process of exam development should be the construction of a test blueprint. The degree of alignment of a test with its blueprint is a critical element of content validity. However, the availability of a published blueprint does not ensure that instructors adhere to it when developing their tests. This article aims to present a tool for quantitative determination of the degree of consistency between the actual test and the developed blueprint. Ensuring the quality of the test blueprinting process, through objective verification of alignment of the test with the test blueprint, increases the extent of content validity of students' assessments.     

Drivers for renewal and reform of contemporary nursing curricula: a blueprint for change

The creation of a curriculum blueprint appropriate to the development of a professional nurse who is practice-ready for the current and future context of health service delivery must take account of the extant context as well as an unpredictable and sometimes ambiguous future. The curriculum renewal process itself ought to challenge existing long held ideals, practices, and sacred cows within the health and higher education sectors. There is much to consider and importantly curriculum developers need to be mindful of reform within the health sector and health workforce education, as well as the concomitant vision and requirements of the nursing profession. Curriculum must develop more than discipline knowledge and skills: it must provide an infrastructure for generic abilities both social and intellectual in order to better prepare students for the registered nurse role. This paper discusses a number of forces that are essential to consider in curriculum development in undergraduate nursing education.     

The self-evaluation examination: past, present and future

The Self-Evaluation Examination (SEE) was first administered in 1991. The purpose of the SEE has not changed since its inception. The purposes of the SEE are to (1) provide information to the students about their progress in the nurse anesthesia program, (2) to prepare students to take the National Certification Examination, and (3) to provide information to program directors on how well their students are performing. The SEE is administered as a computer adaptive examination. The blueprint for the SEE is derived from the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA) curriculum requirements. In 2006, the blueprint of the SEE will be changed to reflect the recent changes in the curriculum requirements from the COA. At the same time, the scoring of the SEE will also change. Scaled scores will no longer be reported for the SEE. The content of this editorial will be presented during the Assembly of School Faculty in February 2005. Program faculty will have the opportunity to seek clarification on the forthcoming changes in the SEE.     

Curriculum as environment: a focus group study

Curricula development is critical for the advancement and evolution of holistic nursing education. Although the American Holistic Nurses Association offers advanced practice board certification for graduate nurses, there is a scarcity of available graduate holistic nursing courses and curricula. The researchers developed a curriculum for an advanced holistic nursing program at a university college of nursing in South Florida. The curriculum and process of development were presented at a workshop during a national holistic nursing conference. A portion of the workshop included an opportunity for attendees to voluntarily participate in a focus group research study. The specific aim of the research was to determine the best approaches for the development of curricula for the promotion of graduate holistic nurse education based on the insights of holistic nurses, nurse educators, nurse practitioners, and scholars. A content analysis identified 3 themes that addressed holistic nursing curriculum: (1) consider curriculum as an evolving blueprint for personal and professional growth; (2) embrace the uniqueness of students; and (3) encourage faculty to co-create the learning environment.     

Resident and fellow training in transfusion medicine

This article focuses on the design of transfusion medicine residency and fellowship training programs in the context of the Accreditation Commission for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies. Transfusion-specific examples of the six ACGME competencies are discussed, a transfusion medicine curriculum with designated training stages for specific curriculum elements is proposed, and examples of training activities are given. The authors also discuss transfusion service rotation design and how to build in graduated responsibility as training proceeds. Finally, methods for assessing the competency of transfusion medicine trainees and the effectiveness of the training program and teaching faculty are described. It is hoped that this article will provide a blueprint for how to design and implement a successful transfusion medicine residency and fellowship training program.     

Integrating long-term care concepts into baccalaureate nursing education: the road to quality geriatric health care

Increased numbers of aging Americans requires that today's health care professionals be grounded in education that focuses on patient-centered care of older adults. The growing demand for competent geriatric nurses in West Texas, led the School of Nursing (SON) at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) to conduct an in-depth analysis of its baccalaureate curriculum to determine how, when, and where care of older adults was being addressed. A task force appointed by the SON subsequently chose, as a blueprint for curricular redesign, Older Adults: Recommended Baccalaureate Competencies and Curricular Guidelines for Geriatric Nursing Care (American Association of Colleges of Nursing & the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing, 2000). This article describes how the SON task force planned and implemented a new and strengthened geriatric core in its curricula.     

Analysis and application of Dorothea Orem's Self-Care Practice Model

Curriculum design in nursing education has become an increasingly sophisticated process throughout the past decade. "Theories" of nursing have emerged, and have become the basis for various curricula models. One model which is relevant to nursing education, practice and research, is that of Dorothea Orem. Nurse educators are constantly bombared with material regarding various nursing "theories." Each nurse educator would benefit by having some familiarity with the models of the major theorists of our day. Dorothea Orem's theory is the basis for numerous curricula across the country. Since curriculum design and redesign affords faculty the opportunity to pursue alternative approaches to the present blueprint of their academic program, material must be succinctly presented which affords one an overview of such theories as that of Orem. This paper is an attempt to address that need.     

Cultural Competence in the Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum

Although health care providers and health care systems have increasingly acknowledged the need for culture-specific care in a global society, its implementation has remained daunting. Thus, integrating cultural competence into nursing education is no longer a choice but a requirement that builds on the values of the racially and culturally diverse population of the United States for optimal health care. The need has never been greater for nurses who understand the health implications of the demographic shifts that are shaping an American society whose African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American constituents compose a significantly growing portion of the population and whose health care needs will need to be served in health care settings that range from their homes to health care institutions. This article provides a blueprint on how our undergraduate program integrated cultural competence education throughout the curriculum.     

高职作业治疗技术课程建设②

作业治疗技术是康复治疗技术专业的核心课程之一,作业治疗技术课程建设的好坏直接影响康复治疗技术专业学生的培养质量。本文从课程标准的制定、教材、教学方法及课程评价等方面介绍了作业治疗技术课程建设过程中所进行的一些改革。     

Appropriately timed interventions with the family and the adolescent: the role of the therapist

Family therapy conducted with a troubled adolescent is a difficult process. In this article the case scenario of a troubled teenager is presented. The adolescent's behavior is scrutinized through an examination of her growth, dynamics, family/parent interactions, and social support. Therapeutic and timely interventions--a blueprint for family therapy integrating psychoanalytic, Bowen, Milan, and behavioral approaches--are explained. The blueprint can be used to assess and assist in the change process of the adolescent. It is extremely important that new therapists realize when they are getting drawn into the content without appreciating the process of therapy. This realization will foster second-order change in the growth of a family therapist.     

APPROPRIATELY TIMED INTERVENTIONS WITH THE FAMILY AND THE ADOLESCENT: THE ROLE OF THE THERAPIST

Family therapy conducted with a troubled adolescent is a difficult process. In this article the case scenario of a troubled teenager is presented. The adolescent's behavior is scrutinized through an examination of her growth, dynamics, family/parent interactions, and social support. Therapeutic and timely interventions-a blueprint for family therapy integrating psychoanalytic, Bowen, Milan, and behavioral approaches-are explained. The blueprint can be used to assess and assist in the change process of the adolescent. It is extremely important that new therapists realize when they are getting drawn into the content without appreciating the process of therapy. This realization will foster second-order change in the growth of a family therapist.     

Organizational structure: blueprint for action

"Organizational structure is the way a group is formed and the way it functions." The authors describe the successful revision of the structure of one school. Its change process and outcome can serve as a blueprint for action for other schools that are changing or considering changing their organizational structure.     

Models of nursing as the basis for curriculum development: some rationales and implications

Within this paper the notion of a model of nursing as a basis for curriculum development is explored. Firstly the factors which a curriculum developer in nursing might take under initial consideration are discussed. It is then argued that a nursing faculty must identify and define its conceptualization of nursing and what it is to be a nurse. The process of conceptualizing nursing itself is examined. The paper goes onto argue that once a nursing faculty has reached a consensus view as to what constitutes nursing, then it either designs or selects a model of nursing which supports their particular conceptualization. Educational literature is cited to support the view that curriculum design, process and content are interrelated and that student learning is facilitated when the relationship between these three factors is coordinated. It is suggested that a nursing curriculum can achieve such an integration if a model of nursing is used as the conceptual framework. Finally some of the implications of adopting a model of nursing are stated.     

Integrating what is taught with what is practised in the nursing curriculum: a multi-dimensional model

The discrepancy between nursing as it is taught in the classroom (theory) and nursing as it is experienced by students in the clinical setting (practice) has long been a source of concern to teachers, practitioners and learners This paper provides an overview of the literature on the theory-practice gap, exploring some of the many reasons cited for its existence as well as suggested ways of bridging the gap Drawing upon the findings, a comprehensive and multidimensional model designed to integrate theory and practice of nursing is proposed for use by curriculum planners Fundamental to the model is the notion of collaboration between education and service staff at all stages of the curriculum process The model highlights eight key areas for the curriculum team to consider the curriculum model to be used, sequencing of taught content and clinical practice, the content of the course, teaching methods to be used, assessment criteria, the role of tutors in the learning process, the contribution of service staff, and the influence of the hidden curriculum It is argued that only through such a comprehensive model can integration of theory and practice within the curriculum be achieved Adoption of the model, however, will require considerable individual and organizational commitment     

Conceptual frameworks and patterns of nursing curriculum

Common concepts of conceptual frameworks and curriculum patterns are identified by studying all 18 English-speaking, generic baccalaureate nursing programmes in Canada. Four identified curriculum patterns use client systems, health-illness, growth and development, and nursing roles as the primary curriculum organizer to sequence programme courses. The nursing programmes commonly use nursing process, followed by growth and development, human needs, and family as secondary organizers to structure contents of programme course. Identifying a curriculum by its organizers is useful to curriculum practice and research. Nursing faculty can use the identified organizers as primary or secondary organizers in designing, changing or evaluating their curriculum. It is also possible to use a nursing model with the identified organizers for an effective curriculum structure. Research studies on conceptual frameworks could use primary and secondary organizers to compare strength and weakness among different nursing curriculum structures.     

A Blueprint of Pain Curriculum Across Prelicensure Health Sciences Programs: One NIH Pain Consortium Center of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPE) Experience

To improve U.S. pain education and promote interinstitutional and interprofessional collaborations, the National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium has funded 12 sites to develop Centers of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPEs). Each site was given the tasks of development, evaluation, integration, and promotion of pain management curriculum resources, including case studies that will be shared nationally. Collaborations among schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and others were encouraged. The John D. Loeser CoEPE is unique in that it represents extensive regionalization of health science education, in this case in the region covering the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. This paper describes a blueprint of pain content and teaching methods across the University of Washington’s 6 health sciences schools and provides recommendations for improvement in pain education at the prelicensure level. The Schools of Dentistry and Physician Assistant provide the highest percentage of total required curriculum hours devoted to pain compared with the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Work. The findings confirm the paucity of pain content in health sciences curricula, missing International Association for the Study of Pain curriculum topics, and limited use of innovative teaching methods such as problem-based and team-based learning.     

Participating in the construction of a teaching project for nursing

The aim of the present paper is to report the authors' experience in the construction process of the teaching project for the Nursing Course at the Federal University of S?o Carlos. The study presents the course and the aspects related to the new proposal concerning the professional nurse profile, and the structure of the subjects distributed in modules are briefly reported. The collective construction and the difficulties regarding the curriculum reformulation process are placed in context. The integrated curriculum proposal should become effective in 2005, which will bring about the efforts of teachers in their search for the articulation of theory and practice without fragmentation. In order to succeed, the new teaching project will require efforts from teachers, students and the university administrative staff so that paths to overcome upcoming difficulties can be found.     

The diffusion of human patient simulation into an associate degree in nursing curriculum

The diffusion of human patient simulation (HPS) within a nursing curriculum is challenging. This article describes an exemplar that presents a 3-year process guided by the Diffusion of Innovations theory to plan, implement, and evaluate HPS in an associate degree in nursing program curriculum.Without funding for a major renovation or construction of new simulation laboratories, existing campus laboratories were converted into simulation laboratories including space dedicated to maternal–child simulation and a remediation simulation laboratory.     

Palliative care curriculum development: a model for a content and process-based approach

To ensure its success, a new curriculum has to meet the needs of learners, patients, and the institution. A review of the literature indicates that despite a tremendous need for palliative care services and a lack of appropriate knowledge and attitudes among physicians, few palliative care curricula for medical residents have been developed. Most are developed by national organizations, and as a result can not meet the individual needs of different institutions. This paper outlines the process of developing a palliative care curriculum in the context of available institutional resources that meets the learners' needs. The development of a curriculum can be divided into four phases: needs assessment, curricular design, implementation, and evaluation. Content (curricular content, instructional strategies and available resources for the curriculum and the developmental process) and process (methods through which the curriculum is developed and institutional issues are addressed) issues that are pertinent to the successful completion of each phase are discussed. Two hypothetical institutions are used to illustrate relevant issues. Methods that have been successfully used to develop residency curricula are discussed.     

Multi-dimensional approach: a task for curriculum development

Curriculum development is an issue of continuing concern to nurse educators. For the planning model to be effective, it must be compatible with, and actually facilitate, the implementation of the particular programme or practice that is to be used. In nursing, the process of curriculum construction is predominantly influenced by the linear approach. This planning model which has taken over nursing education at all levels and in all content areas seems neutral, but it is not. It carries with it a particular value position on human nature. This paper examines the value position of the linear model and its limitation, and proposes a multi-dimensional model as a possible alternative.