Curriculum planning for student nurse training in Scotland: concepts and process

Abstract

IN KEEPING WITH General Nursing Council for Scotland policy (1978), a new programme with a new curriculum to prepare student nurses for registration has been planned for introduction in 1982. The programmes proposed for this College relate to preparation of student nurses for the General Part and the Mental Part of the Registers. The programme consists oftwo 18-month stages. The first stage is common to students for both parts of the Register. The second stage will relate to the specific part of the Register chosen by the student. Both programmes are organised on a modular basis. The educational exposure will include a period of theory, followed immediately by relevant clinical experience. The sequence, shown in Table 1, relates to all students during Stage 1 and to those students for the General Register in Stage 2. The accepted general aims of the educational programme for the first stage of training for the Register of nurses introduces the learner to basic physical, psychological, and social needs of the individual from birth to old age. This should enable the learner to recognise and deal effectively in meeting the needs of the individual whose independence is impaired in a variety of clinical areas. The knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained in the second stage will encourage the learner to: • use a problem-solving approach to nursing; • provide safe and effective care; • participate as a health educator; • be accountable as, and accept the responsibilities of, a Registered Nurse; • be aware of the need to continue with her/his own professional development. Inherent in these aims is the need for the nurse teacher to consider her contribution in relation to the practice of nursing required to achieve these goals. She requires also to advise clinical staff of the predicted level of competence of the learner at each module. A.lI nurse teachers were involved in planning some aspect of the new curriculum and the author's specific contribution was the model of nursing.