A Statewide Consortium's Adoption of a Unified Nursing Curriculum: Evaluation of the First Two Years.

ANALYSIS of covariance; ANALYSIS of variance; CHI-squared test; CONFIDENCE; CONTENT analysis; CURRICULUM; EDUCATORS; FOCUS groups; INTERVIEWING; LABOR productivity; RESEARCH methodology; MEDICAL cooperation; MULTIVARIATE analysis; NURSING education; QUESTIONNAIRES; RESEARCH; STUDENT attitudes; TIME; CLINICAL competence; QUALITATIVE research; LOGISTIC regression analysis; JUDGMENT sampling; DATA analysis; OCCUPATIONAL roles; QUANTITATIVE research; EVALUATION research; THEMATIC analysis; REPEATED measures design; COLLEGE teacher attitudes; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; EDUCATION

AIM This article provides an evaluation of the first two years of implementation of a statewide nursing consortium (SNC) curriculum on nursing faculty work life, teaching productivity, and quality of education. BACKGROUND In response to the call for nursing education reform, the SNC incorporated new approaches to competency-based, student-centered learning and clinical education. METHOD Faculty and two cohorts of students were measured at three points over the first two years of the curriculum implementation. RESULTS The expected positive impact of the SNC was documented at the start of the first year, but not sustained. Students reported having more confidence in their clinical skills at the start of the first year, yet demonstrated significantly less confidence in their ability after two years. CONCLUSION Faculty indicated that the SNC allowed greater opportunity for collaboration, but that the experience did not alter their classroom performance or satisfaction beyond the first year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]