Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 18, September 16, 2024
PURPOSE: This amendment aligns clinical simulation
and distance education with the nursing curriculum.
(1) General Purpose.
(A) The program shall have a philosophy
and/or mission which guides the curriculum practices.
(B) The curriculum incorporates established
professional standards, guidelines, and competencies with clearly stated
objectives, graduate competencies, and program outcomes.
(C) The educational program shall provide
planned learning experiences essential to the achievement of the stated
philosophy and/or mission and graduate competencies and demonstrate logical
progression.
(D) The educational
program shall provide clinical education to facilitate transition to
professional nursing practice with focus on clinical decision making,
leadership, and management.
(E) A
nursing program that uses clinical simulation shall adhere to model standards
of best practice. Mapping of clinical simulation experiences to course and
clinical objectives as well as graduate competencies should be
documented.
(2)
Curriculum Organization and Development.
(A)
The nursing faculty shall have the authority and the responsibility to develop,
implement, and evaluate the curriculum. Student learning experiences shall be
directed and evaluated by the faculty and be consistent with the curriculum
plan.
(B) There shall be a written
curriculum plan that is logically structured to achieve expected individual and
aggregate student outcomes.
(C)
Curriculum design of programs of professional nursing shall foster seamless
academic articulation.
(D) The
curriculum shall be planned so that the number of hours/credits/units of
instruction are distributed between theory, lab, and clinical. The curriculum
plan shall indicate credit and clock hours allocated to theory, lab, and
clinical instruction.
(E)
Curriculum shall be planned so that each division of the curriculum (whether it
be a quarter, term, or semester) has a reasonably equal number of credit hours
of instruction and has a beginning and ending date.
(F) The number of credit hours required for
completion of the nursing program shall not exceed the number of credit hours
required for a comparable degree program.
(3) Curriculum Requirements. Content may be
developed as a separate course or integrated. Integrated concepts shall be
evident in the course objectives. Coursework shall include, but is not limited
to:
(A) Content in the biological, physical,
social, behavioral sciences, and quantitative reasoning to provide a foundation
for competent, safe, and effective professional nursing practice;
(B) Didactic content and supervised clinical
experience in the prevention of illness and the promotion, restoration, and
maintenance of health in patients across the life span and in a variety of
clinical settings or simulation, to include:
1. Using information technology to
communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support
decision-making;
2. Employing
evidence-based practice to integrate best research with clinical expertise and
patient values for optimal care, including skills to identify and apply best
practices to nursing care;
3.
Considering moral, legal, and ethical standards in decision making
processes;
4. Understanding quality
improvement processes to measure patient outcomes, identify hazards and errors,
and develop changes in processes to provide safe patient care;
5. Considering the impact of policy and
finance of the healthcare system;
6. Involving patients in decision-making and
care management;
7. Coordinating
and managing continuous patient care;
8. Promoting healthy lifestyles for
patient(s) and populations;
9.
Working in interdisciplinary teams to cooperate, collaborate, communicate, and
integrate patient care and health promotion;
10. Providing patient-centered culturally
sensitive care with focus on respect for patient differences, values,
preferences, and expressed needs; and
11. Equipping students to face unique
psychosocial, spiritual, and physical stressors that healthcare professionals
may encounter while carrying out their duties.
(4) Syllabus Construction. Syllabi shall be
current and available to all faculty, students, and cooperating agencies. Each
syllabus shall include:
(A) Course title,
current date and year the course is offered, and required
pre-requisites;
(B) Course
description;
(C) Course
objectives;
(D) Teaching or
learning strategies;
(E)
Evaluation methodologies;
(F)
Grading scale;
(G) Course
policies; and
(H) Clock and credit
hour requirements related to theory, lab, and clinical instruction.
(5) Distance Education
Measures and Opportunities.
(A) Nursing
programs and courses delivered solely or in part through distance education
technologies shall meet the same academic program and learning standards as
programs provided in face-to-face format, to include the following:
1. Budgetary support specific to distant
learning resources;
2. Course
management/delivery platform(s) that are reliable and navigable for students
and faculty including measures to ensure exam security shall be in
place;
3. Sufficient technical
support to assist students and faculty to consistently meet program outcomes
including communication of available technical support should be provided to
students;
4. Learning and
technology resources, to include library resources, that are selected with
input of the nursing faculty and are comprehensive, current, and accessible to
students and faculty;
5. Student
outcomes consistent with stated mission, goals, and objectives of the
program;
6. Collaborative and
interactive learning activities that assist students in achieving course
objectives;
7. Planned,
faculty-guided clinical learning experiences that involve direct contact with
patients;
8. Learning opportunities
that facilitate development of students' clinical competence and judgment,
professional role socialization, and transition to a more advanced scope of
professional nursing practice;
9.
Evaluation of student outcomes at set intervals;
10. Tracking of student retention and
completion rates on an ongoing basis;
11. Faculty and student input into the
evaluation process; and
12.
Evidence that outcome data are consistently utilized to plan and improve
distance learning.
*Original authority: 335.036, RSMo 1975, amended 1981,
1985, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 335.071, RSMo 1975, amended 1981,
1999.