Course Development and Influencing Factors

Creating a nursing course structure education curriculum means considering future nurses’ constantly evolving needs. The chosen course, “Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare,” explores evidence-based practice, leadership, advanced nursing positions, and healthcare policy. This assessment aims to create a course that will be integrated into the BSN program at Capella University, considering both external and internal curriculum development influences (Yip, 2021). Employing theoretical instruction, case studies, and hands-on practice, students will gain various healthcare skills from this course. Capella University offers a progressive nursing education since it develops its courses with accreditation standards, regulations, and technology innovations as key factors.

Appropriate Course

The curriculum of a nursing program is established in the best curriculum development process and its understanding is arrived at in a rigorous process that seeks to come up with an educational curriculum that fits into the institution’s set goals and objectives while also adhering to the professional nursing practice. To meet the growing trends that continue to shape healthcare, introduce evidence-based approaches, and identify the needs of nursing students, stakeholders need to come on board. It should be possible to have courses that: equip the students with basic competencies, knowledge, and skills required in nursing practice across different areas of practice.

Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare has the potential to add value to Capella University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing Course. This course, which utilizes the basic nursing information and skills learned in the previous courses, should best be incorporated in the later phases of the program. Students would be able to know the following areas like, advanced nursing practice responsibilities, evidence-based practice, and health and political systems instrumental in shaping nursing leaders and health care delivery.

The Rationale for Adding this Particular Course

The BSN program of Capella University must have a course known as ‘Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare’ due to the alteration of needs in healthcare and to prepare nurses for leadership and other advanced posts. The studies show that the curricula of nursing should be designed in correlation with the market and equip the students with the proper skills to fit in the present-day healthcare market (Horvath et al., 2023). This course offers comprehensive knowledge of the principles of advanced nursing practice, leadership, health law, and the application of evidence-based patient care. Thus, with the help of this course, the nursing graduates of Capella are going to be prepared for success when it comes to the various difficult scenarios involved with healthcare and for furthering the effectiveness of the patient’s outcome.

Students can deepen their knowledge and practice in important areas of contemporary nursing by enrolling in the course “Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare. Research underlines the importance of educational programs that anticipate future demand for health care and are at the same time residue of quality and cost (Scanlon et al., 2023). This course aligns with Capella University’s vision of offering nursing students, research-based knowledge, which makes graduates able to solve problems in the health sector. This course reveals that Capella is committed to becoming a well-rounded university that will equip its students with the necessary tools they will need to go get a great nursing job and make a significant positive impact on the field of healthcare.

Topical Outline of the Course

Capella University’s BSN program is intended to include the proposed course, Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare, as a mandatory component. This program intends to outfit the students with the complex expertise and abilities relevant to practicing in different aspects of nursing including leadership roles in contemporary health care institutions. The following is the suggested topical outline for the course; the list also shows how each topic connects to other BSN courses and contributes to the achievement of the course learning objectives.

Introduction to Advanced Nursing Practice

1. Exploratory study of post-masters roles
2. Therefore how nursing practice has evolved is an area of interest.
3. Comparing roles for advanced practice

Leadership in Nursing

1. Types of leadership that are most common in the nursing field
2. Gaining experience as a leader
3. Successful leadership of nurses

Healthcare Policy and Advocacy

1. Comprehending health policy
2. Nursing politics: What part do nurses play in policymaking?
3. Techniques for effective advocacy

Evidence-Based Practice

1. Best practice concepts of evidence-based practice (EBP)
2. Critical evaluation of the literature
3. Implementing EBP in clinical arenas

Advanced Clinical Skills

1. Sophisticated methods for evaluating patients
2. The process of identifying focal problems and the subsequent decision-making process.
3. Looking at the broader concept of utilization of technology in the provision of care to patients

Enhancing Healthcare Standards and Ensuring Patient Welfare

1. Recognizing the Principles of Quality Enhancement
2. Measures that can be used to increase patient safety
3. Carrying out initiatives for quality improvement

Interprofessional Collaboration

1. Role of collaboration in health care.
2. The following are the key approaches to interprofessional collaboration.
3. This paper presents some case studies of interprofessional practice.

Future Trends in Healthcare

1. New paradigms in the provision of health care
2. Technology applies where influencing the nursing practice.
3. In light of such challenges, it is possible to describe what kind of preparation for future challenges in nursing is possible at the present stage.

This topical framework ensures that the current BSN curriculum at Capella University enhances, rather than just supplements, the “Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare” course. The result is students who are armed with up-to-date information and practical skills to occupy leadership positions and succeed in and transform the dynamic healthcare market. This strategy is in sync with Capella University’s mission of offering today and tomorrow nursing education that is grounded in the research needs of the large health industry as well as the learners.

The subjects covered in “Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare” flow naturally into Capella University’s more extensive BSN curriculum. Expanding from simple courses such as “Health Assessment” and “Nursing Research,” the advanced focus that the course places on clinical skills and evidence-based practice enables progressive enhancement of competency status. The analysis of healthcare policy and leadership provides an improvement in students’ experience in the subject of ‘’Healthcare Policy and Regulation’’ as well as ‘’Leadership in Nursing’’ for the students.

Collaboration with Faculty Members

The collaboration with different members of the faculty is crucial for the course “Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare” to be developed appropriately and coherently with the purpose of the Capella University BSN program. First of all, cooperating with SMEs from the nursing department ensures that one can gather numerous perspectives and various levels of proficiency in the course (Scanlon et al., 2023). These specialists can give insights on new nursing positions, leadership concepts, healthcare laws, and the best practices, with which the program can meet the expectations of the students as well as meet the market standards.

Second, content development and assessments should be planned and designed with the participation of instructional designers or educational experts with an emphasis on the student’s engagement and success. From these specialists, a visually appealing and student-friendly course that nurtures the student’s problem-solving and clinical reasoning skills can be developed by applying pedagogy concepts and instructional design theories (Kilpatrick et al., 2023). Finally, inviting guest speakers from academic backgrounds different from that of public health, ethics or healthcare management deepens the interdisciplinary focus of the course and exposes the students to the most pressing concerns of modern healthcare. It will be possible to present the challenging healthcare issues from various perspectives and angles and get students ready to work in collaboration with the interprofessional healthcare teams while embracing the perspectives and knowledge.

Rationale for Collaboration

Since the course involves collaboration with faculty members knowledgeable in nursing practice, education, and research, the course benefits from the wealth of knowledge in these areas and hence optimizes the quality and relevance of the course, in as much as meeting the needs of the students in learning (Heinen et al., 2019). Since instructional strategies employed have to be backed by research and aligned with the current instructional and learning practices, employing the services of educationists in the development of the courses enhances the overall teaching quality of the curriculum. Getting teachers from various fields in a classroom fosters professional cooperation and introduces a lot of perspectives on various issues in healthcare, broadening the student’s course understanding.

Internal Factors

Organization dynamics plays a major role in determining the design of nursing education curricula. These procedures help enforce the fact that the curriculum is developed by the goals, missions, and core values of the university. Some of the critical influences of context involve faculty appointments, resource allocation, and class scheduling to name but a few since they shape how courses are developed and presented (Cummings et al., 2021). scheduling and format of the “Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare” course as an addition to Capella University’s BSN program are set by organizational processes. For instance, if the company does not possess the technology or equipment necessary for undertaking the course, an impact is automatically exerted on the course content and delivery.

This is another internal factor that plays a role in the development of the curriculum in nursing education and it is referred to as curriculum committees. These committees are responsible for reviewing and rating proposals for changes or introduction of new areas of study. The committee that is in charge of the development of Capella University’s nursing curriculum would have the mandate of approving or rejecting the inclusion of the “Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare” as part of the BSN program. 

External Factors

There are some downsides though such as earlier mentioned challenges on how to source funds for instance when it is time to introduce some courses or even integrate some technologies in teaching (Shakhman et al., 2020). Thus the availability or lack of of financial capital to fund a program of nursing has a very significant influence on the overall and detailed opportunities for education available in a program of nursing.

Other stakeholders that are also involved in the formation of curricula but have an even more influential role are; Healthcare facilities,  Associations for professional nurses, and Community partners. These stakeholders often provide ideas concerning the competencies, knowledge, and skills, that graduating them in nursing should have to serve the current dynamic healthcare systems (Shakhman et al., 2020). For example, feedback that was received from the clinical partners means that such things as experiential learning or specialized clinical rotations can now be included in the curriculum. Consulting with the relevant stakeholders means that the curriculum is up-to-date, market-relevant, and in compliance with the highest testName education standards.

Impact of Parent Institution on Curriculum Design

Mission

This concept derives from the mission of the parent institution and forms a base for the formulation of the curriculum. For instance, if, Capella University’s mission is to offer innovation and leadership in Healthcare education, critical thinking, evidence-based practice, multidiscipline, and collaboration might come first in offering courses in its curriculum. In this regard, the mission statement plays a critical role in pointing out the overall direction and goal of the curriculum concerning the goals of the institution.

Philosophy

A curriculum development process is guided by the parent institution’s educational philosophy that elaborates on principles and concepts concerning nursing education. For instance, let us assume that one of the strategic goals of Capella University is the belief that, education should be student-centered. It can then involve such approaches as group assignments and case studies to enhance student self and active participation. The ideology of the institution is reflected in the learning objectives for curriculum, assessment plans, and teaching practices.

Framework

Since the parent institution that developed the framework has already established a structural framework for the curricular development, then it becomes easier to work with. For example, the organization of the curriculum can depend on certain competencies or professional standards if, for example, Capella University decides to adopt a competency-based approach to its nursing program. With the help of this framework, the curriculum will be certain to meet the industry demands and prepare the students for professional practice and licensing.

Type of Collaboration

It is collaborative to design the Capella University BSN course ‘Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare’. Both internal and external stakeholders of the university as well as the health care community stakeholders are engaged in this partnership.

Type of Collaboration between Internal Stakeholders

Internal collaboration is a necessity that requires faculty members, curriculum developers, academic advisers, and administrators. The perspectives of qualitative data are derived from academic advisers who assess students’ needs and the specifications of the program as well as nursing educators and practicing clinician faculties (Hooven, 2022). The role of curriculum developers involves ensuring that the work done is aligned with standards and benchmark requirements as well as accreditation requirements while administrators involve themselves in decision-making and resource mobilization. Such interdisciplinary teamwork ensures that the development of the course encompasses support for students’ achievements as well as fulfilling educational objectives.

Type of Collaboration between External Stakeholders

In the outside environment, there is a need for cooperation with the regulating authorities, executives, and medical practitioners. It can also be recommended, that the advanced nursing practice can receive some information regarding the future technologies, clinical problems, and tendencies of the current practice from the healthcare professionals (Spanos et al., 2024). Contemporary trends towards labor demands, an increasing number of positions, and competencies are determined by professionals in the healthcare sphere.

Consequences of Not Collaborating

A lack of internal and external collaborations may lead to the design of a course that fails to meet the student’s needs, industry benchmarks, or legal requirements. At the internal level, one usually detects inconsistent priorities, curricula that are separated, as well as poor disbursement of resources (Horvath et al., 2023). Outside, there may be no cooperation in updating the material, varying learning objectives, and failure to meet accreditation standards. Finally, the lack of effective collaboration worsens the approaches and goals of the course, its applicability to the real world, and the content quality; all these aspects impact students’ learning achievements and their readiness for professional practice.

Conclusion

The creation of a new course for a nursing curriculum is a rather multilateral process that requires the consideration of numerous internal and environmental factors. An example of this is Capella University’s ‘Advanced Nursing Practice in Contemporary Healthcare course (Hooven, 2022). That is why it is reasonable to strengthen the role of faculty in curriculum development, understanding its relation to the parent institution, as well as faculty and external stakeholders and ensure efficient communication within the institution to adapt the curriculum to the dynamics within the healthcare industry. Nursing students may not acquire sufficient preparation to produce competent graduates to face the challenges of today’s health system because of improper curriculum integration lack of inter-professional cooperation and unsuitability due to external factors.

References

Cummings, G. G., Lee, S., Tate, K., Penconek, T., Micaroni, S. P. M., Paananen, T., & Chatterjee, G. E. (2021). The essentials of nursing leadership: A systematic review of factors and educational interventions influencing nursing leadership. International journal of nursing studies, 115, 103842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103842

Hooven K. (2022). A National Survey of Collaboration Between Nurse Faculty Members and Staff Nurses in the Clinical Learning Environment. Nursing education perspectives, 43(3), 158–163. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000899

Horvath, S., Visekruna, S., Kilpatrick, K., McCallum, M., & Carter, N. (2023). Models of care with advanced practice nurses in the emergency department: A scoping review. International journal of nursing studies, 148, 104608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2023.104608

Heinen, M., van Oostveen, C., Peters, J., Vermeulen, H., & Huis, A. (2019). An integrative review of leadership competencies and attributes in advanced nursing practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 75(11), 2378–2392. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.1409

Kilpatrick, K., Savard, I., Audet, L. A., Kra-Friedman, A., Atallah, R., Jabbour, M., Zhou, W., Wheeler, K., Ladd, E., Gray, D. C., Henderson, C., Spies, L. A., McGrath, H., & Rogers, M. (2023). A global perspective of advanced practice nursing research: A review of systematic reviews protocol. PloS one, 18(1), e0280726. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280726

Spanos, S., Leask, E., Patel, R., Datyner, M., Loh, E., & Braithwaite, J. (2024). Healthcare leaders navigating complexity: a scoping review of key trends in future roles and competencies. BMC Medical Education, 24(1), 720. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05689-4

Shakhman, L. M., Al Omari, O., Arulappan, J., & Wynaden, D. (2020). Interprofessional education and collaboration: Strategies for implementation. Oman Medical Journal, 35(4), e160. https://doi.org/10.5001/omj.2020.83

Scanlon, A., Murphy, M., Smolowitz, J., & Lewis, V. (2023). Advanced nursing practice and advanced practice nursing roles within low and lower-middle-income countries. Journal of Nursing Scholarship: an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, 55(2), 484–493. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12838

Yip J. Y. C. (2021). Theory-based advanced nursing practice: a practice update on the application of orem’s self-care deficit nursing theory. SAGE Open Nursing, 7, 23779608211011993. https://doi.org/10.1177/23779608211011993