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Concept-based curriculum: design and implementation strategies

  • Carmen V. Harrison EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 7, 2020

Abstract

Objectives

Novice nurses are struggling to exercise the critical thinking skill set needed to make competent clinical decisions in today’s complex health care environment. This poses immense threats to the health and safety of patients. To address this alarming concern, many prominent organizations have called for a widespread overhaul of nursing curricula.

Methods

A consistent theme among the recommendations for revising nursing curricula is the utilization of innovative curricula designs that focus on enhancing the critical thinking ability of nursing students, such as a concept-based curriculum.

Results

Planning and implementing a curriculum revision is an overwhelming undertaking.

Conclusions

Providing nurse educators with a guide on how to transition to a concept-based curriculum may help to facilitate a course revision.


Corresponding author: Carmen V. Harrison PhD, Simmons University, Department of Nursing, 300 The Fenway, Boston, 02115, MA, USA, E-mail:

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Author contributions: Author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Author states no conflict of interest.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: The local Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review.

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Received: 2019-05-26
Accepted: 2019-10-29
Published Online: 2020-09-07

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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