Nursing 'new normal' education: an investigation of barriers and strategies of curriculum planning to meet national standards

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has a major effect on nursing education in Indonesia, it needs for adaptation of the curriculum to achieve competent nursing graduates meet national and international standards. The aim of this study is to explore the barriers and strategies of nursing education of private institutions, in curriculum planning in the new normal era during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in five nursing study programs in East Java. Data collection was carried out by in-depth interviews, observations, documentation studies of 25 participants, with the criteria of lecturers being actively involved in curriculum planning based on Indonesian national standards. The data used purposive sampling and snowball sampling. The data validity is carried out with four criteria: credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability. Data analysis was carried out using the model approach of Miles, Huberman & Saldana. Data records from interviews, observations and documentation then carried out data selection, reducing, focusing on data findings (data condensation). Results: The study found five themes: (1) barriers from human resources, (2) barriers during the curriculum planning process, (3) barriers for Nursing Study Program lecturers in obtaining information sources related to Indonesian Qualification framework-based curriculum planning, (4) strengthen the pro-active leadership of study programs; (5) foster dynamic communication between curriculum teams.Conclusion: The results showed, in pandemic crisis COVID-19, the need for a curriculum planning workshop with clear technical guidelines in producing an effective, efficient, adaptable nursing curriculum, the effective one of planning has high potential in producing high quality nursing graduates.