Abstract
Tumultuous and dynamic changes in the healthcare environment have resulted in unprecedented stresses and challenges for both nursing education and nursing practice. It is essential that nursing education curricula reflect the rapidly changing technologies and dramatically expanding knowledge and changes in the practice environment and incorporate theory, science, professional standards, and consumer/service input. The authors describe a redesigned undergraduate management curriculum.
Healthcare providers face a barrage of transformations in organizational structures and care delivery models. 1-2 Changes include the increased use of unlicensed multiskilled workers, a point-of-care shift to the primary care setting, decreasing lengths of stay, an increase in the complexity of patient care needs, rapid technological change, and reimbursement constraints. These changes are especially challenging to new graduates as they adapt to new roles and responsibilities. 3 The nursing curriculum must prepare students for roles in current and evolving healthcare systems, including critical thinking, ethical decision making, design/coordination of care, interdisciplinary team participation, information technologies, and sensitivity to diversity. 4
Given the nursing shortage, the chances of new graduates being asked to serve in first-line leadership positions earlier in their career is relatively high. Understanding this real-world need mandates that nursing educators constantly strive to produce a graduate nurse with both clinical and leadership tools and knowledge that will position them for success in the ever-changing world of healthcare. Leadership skills will continue to gain importance as the new nurse negotiates and coordinates care within the system of healthcare delivery, through collaboration with other disciplines, regulatory agencies, and insurance companies to assure high-quality, cost-effective care. 5
The need for collaboration, partnerships, and innovative models of academic-practice relationships has been an ongoing theme over many years. Academic-practice models are many and varied. 1-2,6 The American Association of Colleges of Nursing defines collaborative relationships as "the substantive interchange of human and/or material resources, for the purpose of advancing common goals in practice, education, and research."7(p1) Shared planning, decision making, problem solving, cooperation, and coordination are important components of the concept of collaborative relationships. In response to changing practice environments, faculty are charged with the increased responsibility to evaluate educational programs to ensure that students are prepared to work effectively in the clinical settings and to meet expectations of employers.