Curriculum Development for Masters in Nursing Education

Question: Discuss about curriculum development for masters in nursing education. Answer: Objectives Leadership development in nursing is the procedure that enables a nursing professional to increase his competency and act as a leader. This development should be introduced for the undergraduate nursing students to apply skills, attitudes and knowledge while performing the task and role of a nurse. The main objective of the leadership development is the success of the organization, which will ultimately lead to the improvement of the patient outcomes (Foli et al., 2014). The professional nursing abilities get increased, decision making capacities get enhanced and the interdisciplinary collaboration gets improved for the assessment of the responsibilities and roles of professional nursing (Huber, 2013). Leadership development of nursing also has several other objectives for its implementation. These have been listed below. Critical thinking: Leadership development leads to the improvement of the critical thinking ability of the nurses. Therefore, it is important for the development of new leaders in the profession. Communication: Effective communication leads to better organizing abilities. Hence, it is necessary for the nursing leaders to have good communication skills. Resource management and nursing technology: The objective of nursing leadership development is the implementation of novel technologies and management of the available resources (Yoder-Wise, 2014). Therefore, development of nursing leadership is very important regarding proper patient care delivery. Assessment: Nursing leadership enables the professionals to conduct proper and suitable assessment of the situations and it becomes very important in case of emergencies. Nursing leaders handle the situation with proper experience and expertise for better patient handling. Disease prevention, risk reduction and health promotion: Nursing leaders can effectively organize the healthcare delivery system and implement novel technologies for patient care. These will lead towards health promotion of the patients by reducing the risk of diseases and thereby preventing diseases. Disease and illness management: Proper leadership of the nursing professionals will lead to the better management of the illness and diseases. The patients will be provided with better health outcomes with efficient nursing leaders. Healthcare technologies and information: Better technologies in healthcare can be implemented only if the nursing leader has the view for better patient compliance. Therefore, it is very crucial for the nursing leader to have enough information for the recent developments in nursing. Ethics: The ethical factors of the profession of nursing can be well maintained by a well-knowledge leader. So the leadership development becomes important when it comes to ethical delivery of patient care in nursing. Human diversity: The nursing professionals have to go through diverse populations of patients. Nursing leadership comes to play when these patients of different backgrounds need to be attended with care as per their preferences and cultures (McCormack, Manley Titchen, 2013). Global healthcare: The profession of nursing is growing and so efficient nursing leaders will be required to have effective vision for global patient care. Coordinator, designer and manager of care: Nursing is among the basic profession of healthcare. So the leadership development of nursing will be required for effective coordination of the team work, designing of the patient care services and managing the patient care for ultimate care delivery and maintaining the goodwill of the profession. Content Outline The content outline for leadership development in nursing for the undergraduate programs should include topics, which are essential for the professional growth of the future nurses. The topics should be arranged in such a way that they cover almost all the situations in the nursing profession, where leadership is required (Titzer, Shirey Hauck, 2014). Some of the contents have been discussed below. Leadership theories: Leadership theories enable the nurses with the opportunity for the application of the skills in various situations of patient care through critical reflection, understanding of the process and proper evaluation. These theories are required for the future development of the practice. Since the nurses play an important role in the various settings of healthcare like outpatient activity, polyclinics, surgical communities, etc. so the application of the leadership theories will be required for the development of the services and take them forward (Scott Miles, 2013). Leadership qualities and characteristics: Leaders have the characteristics and qualities to direct, dictate and delegate. Nursing leaders act in a team with other professionals and help each other achieve the highest levels of their services (Hunter, Mc Gonigle Hebda, 2013). To develop competent and professional leaders in the nursing profession, the content should have the option for the development of the leadership qualities and characteristics of the nursing students. This can be achieved through various advocacy and educational activities. Vision and values of leadership: The content should enable the students to develop the vision and values of nursing leadership. The vision of a nursing leader should have the primary objective of providing the care to the patients, which is of the highest level. The leader should have the vision to handle only one patient at a given time with great attention on the quality of care delivered. The leaders should have the basic qualities of serving the patients with dedication and compassion for improvement of the literacy and awareness of health among the patients. The leadership development program should also have the content of developing the core values among the leaders. These values include patient care to promote the healing, hope and health and integrity, to respect the morality and dignity of the different patients. Diversity based on differences and uniqueness should be equally observed and treated and excellence implementing and co-creating the strategies of transformation. Leadership styles: The students should be made aware of the styles of leadership that can be implemented in the profession of nursing. This is possible only when they are included in the content of the nursing curriculum for the leadership development. The various styles of leadership begin with the servant leadership, where the leader assures the addressing of the needs of his team members regarding various issues of patient care. The transformational leadership includes the motivation of the team members and building up of relationships by sharing his mission and vision in the profession of nursing. The autocratic leadership includes the decision making of the leader without consulting his team members and this is mainly implemented in case of punishment and negative reinforcements (Zwink et al., 2013). Decision-making and problem solving: Decision-making and problem solving abilities are the core competencies of the leaders in the nursing profession. So the content of the curriculum should contain these factors to develop the future leaders. The leaders need to make good decisions in case of tough situations by their conceptual skills. Problem solving abilities are important for patient safety and care. Interdisciplinary issues have to be handled efficiently along with the issues of patient treatment. Future Curriculum Development The future of the curriculum development in nursing education should have the objective that the nurses should be provided with the highest level of training and education through an advanced educational system that provides ample opportunities for academic progression. The healthcare sector is undergoing major changes and therefore, the practice environments are changing. To keep pace, the nursing education system should also undergo profound changes (Sherman et al., 2013). These changes should be applied to the theoretical as well as practical levels of their education. Nurses should be provided with the better and proper understanding of the healthcare management, change management at the systems level and methods of quality improvement. The roles of the nurses have to be reconceptualized in a system of reformed healthcare. The nursing education should enable the students with lifelong learning opportunities and make them prepared for higher education. Relevant care based on culture is a future trend in nursing education. For meeting the health needs of the patients in future and to provide them with relevant care based on their cultures, the nursing education should incorporate the care diversity. The need can be met by increasing the student body diversity. All levels of nursing education have to be addressed with this need. The nurses should also possess competencies in various areas of healthcare, rather than focusing on general healthcare. These areas include public health, leadership, community care, health policy, research and evidence-based practice. Also, more and more students should be encouraged and facilitated to undertake the doctoral program to meet the shortage of research and faculty programs (Grossman Valiga, 2012). The licensing, certifying and accrediting should be made mandatory by the respective organizations for the demonstration of the core competencies and skills on the completion of the nursing education. The bodies of nursing bodies should be made more diverse to overcome the underrepresentation of the ethnic and racial groups who are in minority (Brown, Crookes Dewing, 2016). Another change that can be implemented in nursing education in future is that the students should be provided education along with the physicians and other professionals involved in healthcare. This education should be facilitated throughout their professional careers. The most revolutionary inclusion in the future curriculum of nursing is the eHealth or electronic health technologies. For the application of this technology, skilled nursing professionals have to be developed who can implement this technology in patient care (Higuchi, Wen Masaki, 2013). They should be trained with the subjects of informatics and eHealth to increase the interdisciplinary collaboration, education of information literacy and technologies, which are client centered. References Brown, A., Crookes, P., Dewing, J. (2016). Clinical leadership development in a pre-registration nursing curriculum: What the profession has to say about it.Nurse education today,36, 105-111. Foli, K. J., Braswell, M., Kirkpatrick, J., Lim, E. (2014). Development of leadership behaviors in undergraduate nursing students: A service-learning approach.Nursing education perspectives,35(2), 76-82. Grossman, S. C., Valiga, T. M. (2012).The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of nursing. 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