A two-year long project, the new curriculum for the School of Nursing is expected to be finished by May.
In order to offer a “contemporary” education in Nursing that will “take the lead and develop the best nurses for the future,” the current Nursing curriculum needs changes, said Martha Curley, a Nursing professor and co-chair of the curriculum committee.
The new curriculum will allow Nursing students the capacity for “clinical expertise, leadership at bedside, both on the local and global level” and the ability to “translate the science of the profession into the practice of nursing,” Curley said.
In addition to inner-school changes, such as new research classes, the curriculum will provide opportunities to “engage with all that is offered” at Penn and will therefore include more elective options, Curley added.
After it is completed in the next two months, the curriculum will be presented to the State Board of Nursing for approval in the fall.
So far, the process for change has been “very inclusive,” allowing both faculty members and students to provide input, Curley said.
Recently, students were asked to write their suggestions and thoughts on post-its on message boards throughout the Nursing School.
Nursing students have had mixed responses to the potential changes.
“Personally, I think they are headed in a good direction, but are making very large changes and there needs to be more student input,” Nursing senior Rachel Glincher wrote in an e-mail.
Even though Glincher filled out a post-it on the message boards, she said the location of the boards are random, which has caused “minimal input” from students.
Other students, including Nursing senior and committee member Maura Rinehimer, disapproved of the changes to the Nursing curriculum.
“I agree that there are things that could be improved upon but the manner in which the school is going about it is highly troubling,” she wrote in an e-mail.
Rinehimer highlighted the need for changes in better organization, equal grade distributions, involvement of healthcare technology and evidence-based practice and better communication between faculty and students about what needs to be covered in the courses.
Like Glincher, Rinehimer wrote that the posters are a “great way to communicate,” though they need to be moved to a more “equally accessible area.”
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