1. QUESTION
Internal factors have a large influence on the development of nursing programs. What are the internal factors that nurse educators should be cognizant of in curriculum development. Provide examples of how internal factors are assessed.
You may wish to consider the following internal factors
•Mission and Purpose, philosophy and goals of the parent institution
•Internal economic situation and influence on the curriculum
•Resources within the institution and the nursing program
•Potential faculty and student characteristics

Answer

Internal Factors That Impact Curriculum and Program Development.

Curriculum development has always been an ongoing process with the bulk of the work requiring collaboration and reflection by current nursing faculty with support from the parent academic institution. The ultimate goal of this is to prepare the student with the knowledge, skills and a positive attitude needed to provide safe, evidence based, patient-centered care. Therefore the programs are required to challenge older traditions and incorporate current technology, design evidence-based curricula that are flexible, learner responsive and provide diverse experience. There are obviously many factors that may impact on curriculum development but this essay will discuss some of the internal factors that have had an influence on the development of nursing programs (Sherman et al, 2003).

When considering curriculum development, the program faculty should bear in mind factors that occur within the nursing program and academic institution that may influence the outcome of curriculum development. For instance:

The mission, purpose, philosophy and goals of the parent institution impact on curriculum development. The programs mission, philosophy and goals should be congruent with those of the parent institution. They should not only reflect professional nursing standards and guidelines but also consider the needs and expectations of the community of interest. Therefore the demographics and major health care problems reported by the local healthcare department should also be put into consideration and integrated into the course work. Without these measures there will be conflict of interest between groups involved in governing the program hence a diversion in the efforts to improve the program quality.

Resources within the institution and the nursing program may also impact on curriculum development. The institution avails resources to enable the program achieve its desired objectives and expected results. Such resources include providing and supporting an environment that will encourage faculty teaching, service, scholarship, technology and learning program which provides computer-based training modules and practice in keeping with the goals of the program. Sufficient resource provision ensures that the program fulfills its mission.

Internal economic situation covers areas such as the institution and program budgets. The budget should be well planned to ensure that it caters for needed resources such as educators salaries, learning equipments and facilities and research programs that will ultimately ensure that curriculums are regularly revised and current practices incorporated.

Potential facilities are important agencies for clinical placements (Keating, 2015) like acute care hospitals, clinics and public health departments. Limited capacity of clinical agencies in the immediate vicinity will affect placement activities which are a vital requirement for all nursing curriculums.  Placements for maternal-child practices are considered the most challenging because of the small units, fluctuating census and to the outpatient character of pediatrics care. Therefore these areas have the lowest level of student satisfaction which is however still acceptable and does produce satisfactory results on the National Council Licensing Examination (Keating, 2015). Since the curriculum is learner centered, it therefore requires certain distinct student characteristics like critical thinking as well as analysis and application of theories. Competence is needed to develop expertise in practice. Besides that, minimum standard qualification is required at the selection process. Support courses offered to students who do not perform to required standards or those who do not speak English as their first language.

Internal factors are systematically evaluated to assess the strengths and areas for improvements. There are direct assessment like comprehensive performance evaluation which entails monitoring and data collection, writing reports, using evidence for practice or integrating theory into practice. There is also comprehensive performance assignment which entails activities such as written assignments and presentations, written tests that are developed with emphasis given to guarantee that evaluation is objective, consistent and accurate(McCoy, Anema, 2013)

Apart from those, there is service, which is an outcome variable derived from the mission of the institution. Participation in community service projects are a major indicator that graduates are capable of developing significant and useful community service projects.

Similarly, perceptions of program effectiveness are determined by evidence from affiliated agencies, advisory boards, employers and alumni. A good percentage of incoming students indicate they chose the program due to its reputation from career fairs to nursing employers (Mansour, 2015). Senior exit surveys, graduation rates and periodic alumni surveys carried out by most institutions are strong indicators of satisfaction with the attainment of program competence.