Evaluation of Curriculum

Laura Butz BSN, RN

Department of Nursing Education, SUNY DELHI

NUR 602: Curriculum and Instructional Design

Dr. Katherine Quartuccio

February 25, 2024

 Template for Evaluation of Curriculum through Application of National Guidelines

Program Name SUNY DELHI

Type of Nursing Program Associate in Applied Science
Course Prerequisites Completion of the first year of the nursing program (or its
equivalent), concurrent enrollment or completion of General
Microbiology (BIOL 230), co-requisite of Practicum III (NURS
230) or Practicum IV (NURS 240).
Course Title (copy and paste from course syllabus)

NURS 220 / Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

Course Description
This course utilizes concept-based exemplars and evidenced based interventions designed to
promote, maintain, treat, and restore mental health. Therapeutic communication is emphasized
in the care of all clients including complex psychiatric clients. Legal and ethical issues that
relate to psychiatric clients are explored. Critical thinking, prioritization, collaboration, and
delegation are integrated in the nursing care of clients in various settings.
List of student learning outcomes
1. Analyze appropriate usage of therapeutic communication as well as barriers to
communication.
2. Effectively apply the nursing process incorporating collaboration to care for various
mental illnesses to ensure client safety and optimize mental health.
3. Integrate nursing implications and client education related to the administration of
psychotropic medications.
4. Analyze current legal and ethical issues that impact care of the mentally ill.
Program Learning Student Learning Outcome(s) Correlating Practice
Outcomes of the course that correlates to essentials or
program learning outcome competencies guiding the
program (examples
include BSN Essentials
of Practice or QSEN
Competencies-
Example: I. Liberal
Education for
Baccalaureate Generalist
Nursing Practice)
Deliver care that is 1. Analyze appropriate usage of QSEN Competency:
compassionate, ethical, therapeutic communication as Patient Centered Care
coordinated and based on well as barriers to
respect for patient/family communication.
diversity, preferences, 2. Effectively apply the nursing
values, and needs. process incorporating
collaboration to care for various
 mental illnesses to ensure client
safety and optimize mental
health.
3. Integrate nursing implications
and client education related to the
administration of psychotropic
medications.
4. Analyze current legal and
ethical issues that impact care of
the mentally ill.
Integrate best practices Effectively utilize the nursing QSEN Competency:
congruent with current process incorporating Evidence-Based Practice
evidence, patient/family collaboration to care for various
preferences, and values into mental illnesses to ensure client
delivery of optimal care. safety and optimize mental
health.
Employ safety standards to Integrate nursing implications QSEN Competency:
minimize risk of harm to and client education related to the Safety
patients and providers. administration of psychotropic
medications.
Identify the program’s accrediting body (can be found on program webpage) and list the
standard and substandard related to the development of an evaluation demonstrating
alignment with practice essentials or competencies (you will find this information in the
accrediting body’s manual).

“Criterion 4.1
The nursing curriculum has one set of end-of-program student learning outcomes that:

a. are based on contemporary professional nursing standards, guidelines, and/or competencies;

and

b. apply to all program options and reflect the educational level at which students are being
prepared.”
 Evaluation of NURS 220 – Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

Purpose of Curriculum Evaluation

Programmatic Evaluation is the evaluation of all parts that make up curriculum. It is a

systemic assessment and analysis that is used to improve the effectiveness of a program (Ellis,

2020). It is important for programs to continuously evaluate their curriculum as it can provide

valuable information regarding the content being taught, the student learning outcomes and how

they align with the program learning outcomes and the standards of the accrediting bodies. This

alignment is important because it validates that the content being taught is meeting the

established goals and requirements (Ellis, 2020).

Alignment of Outcomes

PLO 1: Deliver care that is compassionate, ethical, coordinated and based on respect for

patient/family diversity, preferences, values, and needs.

This program learning outcome addresses the need for the learner to be able to deliver

care that is compassionate, ethical, coordinated and based on respect for patient/family diversity,

preferences, values, and needs. This is essential in providing patient-centered care. The program

learning outcomes are broad, whereas the student learning outcomes tend to be more specific.

Student learning outcomes define what the student is expected to be able to do by the end of the

course. The four listed student learning outcomes include; the learner will be able to analyze

appropriate usage of therapeutic communication as well as barriers to communication, apply the

nursing process incorporating collaboration to care for various mental illnesses to ensure client

safety and optimize mental health, integrate nursing implications and client education related to

the administration of psychotropic medications, and analyze current legal and ethical issues that

impact care of the mentally ill. It is essential that the program learning outcome(s) and student
learning outcome(s) align. When both learning outcomes align, it provides the student learner

with clarity on what they will be learning and clear expectations on what they need to achieve

and demonstrate by the end of the course. In this case, if the student meets the student learning

outcomes, then they would be successful in delivering care that is compassionate, ethical,

coordinated and based on respect for patient/family diversity, preferences, values, and needs.

The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) is an accrediting body that has

defined quality and safety competencies for nursing. Accrediting bodies create competencies and

standards with input from various stakeholders. QSEN, utilized the Institute of Medicine (2003)

competencies to guide their competencies for nursing. For accreditation is it important that

programs can demonstrate how they are working towards these competencies. One of QSEN’s

competencies is Patient-Centered Care. QSEN defines patient-centered care as “recognize the

patient or designee as the source of control and full partner in providing compassionate and

coordinated care based on respect for patients’ preferences, values, and needs” (QSEN, 2024).

The student learning outcomes specially highlight therapeutic communication and the need to be

able to identify any barriers to communication that may impact upon the therapeutic relationship.

Therapeutic communication is an essential skill for nurses and all healthcare practitioners to help

establish patient-centered healthcare. Therapeutic communication is a type of communication

that builds the nurse-patient relationship and builds trust (Kleier, 2013). It is patient-centered and

helps impower the patient to become active an participant in their care. This program would be

able to demonstrate their compliance with this competency because their program outline aligns

to patient centered care as do the expected student learning outcomes.

An ideal assignment for a nurse to demonstrate their ability to provide care that is

compassionate, ethical, coordinated, and based on respect for a patient/family diversity,

preferences, values, and needs would be providing care for a patient with a diagnosis or

comorbidity of mental health illness. Due to the limitations and challenges that nursing programs

have with clinical placements another assignment that could demonstrate the student’s

achievement of this learning outcome would involve the use of simulation. Simulation-based

education is a learner-centered approach that involves discussion, self-reflection, and allows

learners to participate in active learning (Aebersold, 2018). In addition, learning simulations can

be used to test and demonstrate students’ knowledge and skills. Mental health simulations have

specifically been used to reduce students stress and anxiety that can occur within clinical

placements and have been found to help students develop better therapeutic communication

skills (Aebersold, 2018). Assessing their knowledge in simulation would be another way for the

student to demonstrate their achievement in this learning outcome in a controlled environment.

PLO 2: Integrate best practices congruent with current evidence, patient/family

preferences, and values into delivery of optimal care.

The second program learning outcome is the learner will be able to integrate best

practices congruent with current evidence, patient/family preferences, and values into delivery of

optimal care. The student learning outcome is for the student to effectively utilize the nursing

process incorporating collaboration to care for various mental illnesses. The care provided must

ensure client safety and optimize mental health recovery. Nurses going into the healthcare field

should be competent in implementing evidenced-based practice that is patient centered and

includes patient/family preferences and values. It is important that students learn how to use the

nursing process and incorporate collaborative care for various mental health illnesses.

Effectively communicating evidence to patients that optimizes their mental health recovery and
ensures their safety is critical. Care concepts must be both understandable and pertinent to the

patients’ circumstances.

The essential practice that best aligns with the student learning outcome is QSEN

competency: Evidence-Based Practice (QSEN, 2024). This competency defines evidence-based

practice for nursing as the ability to integrate the best current evidence with clinical expertise and

recognizes patient/family preferences and values as essential for delivery of optimal health care.

For student nurses to successfully care for patients in a health care setting they should be able to

consult with clinical experts, identify and locate best practices, then create individualized care

plans on patient values (QSEN, 2024).

An assignment that would demonstrate the student achievements and competency of the

learning outcome is with the use of a case study. Case studies can be used to assess student

learners critical thinking capability in a variety of settings (Jones & Sheridan, 1999). Providing

the students with a patient scenario, and several open ended questions to answer that would

require them to explain and support their plan. Their plan must incorporate the current evidence

along with the patient’s preferences and values while demonstrating they are delivering optimal

care will provide them an opportunity to demonstrate their achievement of this learning outcome.

PLO 3: Employ safety standards to minimize risk of harm to patients and providers.

The third program learning outcome is to employ safety standards to minimize risk of

harm to patients and providers. Harm of patients is a world-wide problem; medication errors are

a leading cause of harm to patients (Fernholdm et. al, 2020). It is imperative that student nurses

recognize the importance of safety standards and protocols as well as how to implement

established safety standards that reduce the risk of harm to both patients and providers. The
student learning outcomes for this program included the ability for nurses to integrate nursing

implications and client education related to the administration of psychotropic medications. It is

important for nurses to not only have a good understanding of the medications that they are

giving but also to understand how to educate patients about these medications. Patient education,

if provided effectively can increase medication adherence and provide hope for their recovery

and self- efficacy.

QSENs safety essential is to minimize the risk of harm to patients and providers through

both system effectiveness and individual performances (QSEN, 2022). It is important that nurses

can identify unsafe practices and implement basic safety techniques. Throughout the COVID-19

pandemic we saw the need for adjustments in milieu, service and care delivery that needed to be

made for patients with psychiatric diagnoses. These changes highlighted the importance of

effective medication education for both medical providers as well as patients (Ostuzzi et. al,

2020).

An assignment that could demonstrate the students’ achievements of the learning

outcome would be a poster presentation. The requirements would include a poster that educates

the patient on their psychotropic medications, how they can help them achieve their goals,

possible side effects, drug interactions, safety precautions, and purpose and what they should do

if they miss a dose or decide to stop taking them. The student would be asked to present their

poster to the class as if they were talking to the patient and/or their family. The student should be

able to demonstrate their knowledge of the patients’ unique symptomatology understanding of

their individual situation including a safety plan if identified by the patient or family.

Assignment Failure
 Assigning failing grades to students is challenging and faculty often fear retribution or

have self-doubt along and due to the staffing shortage for nursing may feel pressured to pass

underperforming students (Frank, 2020). When there is a group of students who do not achieve a

passing grade, it is important for faculty to assess what was presented to the students, how the

assignment was presented, and the student’s interpretation of the assignment. Faculty are more

likely to be successful when they understand the student’s abilities and understanding (Scheckel,

2020) and overall perspective. If the instructions were not clear for the students or if they did not

have a solid understanding of what was expected out of them the probability of their being

successful will be lower. It is important that faculty assess their students’ understanding of the

assignment prior to them starting to identify and clarify any misunderstandings regarding the

assignment. Articulating the expectations and establishing a mutual interpretation of the

assignment between the faculty and the students preceding the assignment can help eliminate

ambiguity.

Additional causes of students not meeting a passing grade is an unusually high workload,

outside factors such as home life, work life, and financial strain placed on the student during that

time frame. Faculty also have expectations, deadlines and performance objectives that they must

meet along with many of the aforementioned factors identified that impact student performance.

It is important that faculty maintain an awareness of both perspectives. Health care can be a

highly stressful environment and requires individuals to develop needed skills, resources and

supports that are often not required in other professions. It’s important for faculty to be aware

of additional resources and supports for their students and to be cognizant of collective stress at

all levels. The increasing demand for nurses along with higher expectations of nurses has
resulted in nursing programs having more responsibility in preparing students for a successful

transition into practice (Hendricks, 2020).

Curriculum Evaluation Process

Criterion 4.1 of standard 4 in the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing

(ACEN) manual in regard to the end of program student learning outcomes. It requires the

learning outcomes to be based on the professional nursing standards, guidelines, and/or

competencies (ACEN, 2024). It requires these standards to reflect the educational level in which

the students are being prepared. The student learning outcomes for this course would prepare the

entry level nurse to apply the nursing process along with patient-centered and evidence-based

care to patients with mental illnesses.

There are many elements of curriculum evaluation. It is important for an evaluation of

curriculum that faculty have expertise and understanding of the current curriculum content, an

understanding of the institutions mission and values, the national standards, and the changes

happening to healthcare. Faculty play a large role in the evaluation and revision of curriculum

(Hendricks, 2020). Other stakeholders include employers, board members, accrediting bodies,

clinical partners, and students (Hendricks, 2020).

The criterion set by the ACEN requires an organization to prepare the students for the

level of learning they are in. For example, the standards for graduate level nurses vs. post

graduate level nurses should be different as they will be preforming at different levels. It also

requires the nursing programs to include the professional nursing standards and competencies in

their learning outcomes. The nursing field is rapidly changing and the expectations that

institutions have for entry level nurses are increasing.

 Conclusion

Faculty have the responsibility of ensuring that the curriculum they are teaching follows a

set of standards published by accrediting bodies. They are also responsible for ensuring that the

curriculum being taught is current and follows up to date, evidenced-based practice, and prepares

the graduate nurse for entry level practice. To ensure this, there needs to be ongoing and

continuous evaluation of the curriculum which includes updates as needed. To be successful,

faculty must have a functional and foundational understanding of the content, institutional

values, accrediting bodies standards, and support and the resources they need from their

institution and senior faculty members. This support is so important especially or those new to

the field of nursing education.

 References

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