Changes in nurse education: delivering the curriculum.

The aim of this study is to examine changes in pre-registration nursing education through the personal accounts of nurse teachers. This paper is based on 37 in-depth interviews within a central London Healthcare Faculty. Each interview was subjected to a process of content analysis described by Miles and Huberman. The interviews took place between August 2003 and March 2004 and totalled 34.4 hours or 305,736 words. There were thirty female and seven male participants, who shared 1015 years of nursing experience, averaging at 27.4 years (min 7-max 42). These were supplemented by 552 years of teaching practice, the average being 15 years (min 0.5-max 29). This paper--delivering the nursing curriculum--identifies that the nature of nursing has changed as it has both expanded and contracted. Participants identified three major changes; the nature of nursing, selection of future nurses and the current impact that large cohorts have on our traditional model of person-centred education. The practice placements remain central to nursing education and it is the nursing role that should define the curriculum and the values of higher education should be supportive of this identity.