THE INTEGRATED BACCALAUREATE NURSING CURRICULUM: AN EVALUATION CASE STUDY.
Contributors: St. John's University (New York, N.Y.)
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 141
Subjects: Education, Curriculum and Instruction.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which integration as defined in the literature is achieved in the implementation of a baccalaureate nursing program. A case study approach was utilized to focus upon an integrated baccalaureate nursing program offered as an upper division major in an independent, liberal arts college. A variety of data collection methods were utilized which included: examination of curriculum documents, classroom observation, and interviews with faculty and students. For the purpose of data analysis the thematic areas of definition and identity were addressed.

During the course of the study, the definitional problems associated with the integrated curriculum model were increasingly evident. The individual disciplines or specialty areas which according to the literature should not be distinguishable in the integrated curriculum were, in fact, easily identified. The specialty areas were clearly identified in the curriculum documents, classroom presentations, and examinations. The attempts to blend the specialty areas are actually processes by which the specialty areas are brought together side by side and presented as a whole. In this way, the concept of integration is utilized as a way of organizing the curriculum to assist the student to understand the relationships among the specific content areas of nursing. The specialty areas are distinguishable but united in a manner which provides a comprehensive but differentiated knowledge base.

Further examination of the integrated curriculum in this study revealed that the focus in instruction is upon pathophysiology, signs, symptoms, and the medical treatment of disease. The emphasis on specialization and the focus upon pathophysiology and medical treatment in instruction made it difficult to identify that unique body of knowledge which is nursing.

The concept of integration is not a simple issue. As the data emerged during the course of this study, several issues arose which I think merit future consideration. The integrated curriculum is based upon the assumption that nursing possesses a separate and unique body of knowledge. The nursing curriculum field by failing to examine this underlying assumption has limited its own form of consciousness and, therefore, the political and ideological assumptions which influence nursing education and practice remain hidden.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-09, Section: A, page: 3292.

Thesis (ED.D.)--ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY (NEW YORK), 1986.

School code: 0192.