NURSING C946 Curriculum Proposal Essay Copy With Complete Solutions 2023 Assured A+.
Stress Management and Resilience Training
The nursing profession
... [Show More] is an honorable and rewarding career choice, but it does come
with high physical, emotional, and mental demands. The American Nurses Association (2020)
indicates that stress is one of the most influential and unrecognized issues for nurses today.
Constant exposure to high-stress levels can have many negative effects on the nurse's personal
and professional life. Stress for the nurse can begin as early as the application process to a
competitive undergraduate nursing program. On average, the nursing student undergoes
approximately 4 years of difficult pre-nursing course studies such as chemistry, biology, human
anatomy, physiology, psychology, and algebra. Clinicals are incorporated with various specific
nursing courses. During these clinical experiences, the nursing student is expected to absorb
each wave of new information and build applicable knowledge in a practical setting while caring
for critical patients. Overthinking each clinical assignment's possible nightmare scenarios, where
one mistake can lead to death, is terrifying for the nursing student. Finally, the graduate must
take and hopefully be one of the 87% who successfully passes the NCLEX certification exam to
obtain the title of Registered Nurse. (NCSBN, 2020). Entering the workforce as a novice nurse
is where the pressure and stress levels spike. The fast-paced work environments, limited staffing
numbers, long-hour shifts, and providing care for critical patients are common stressors
witnessed in the healthcare setting, which leads to chronic high-stress levels, and eventually,
nurse burnout. Incorporating stress management and resilience pedagogical designs into the
nursing education curricula will better prepare the learner to understand, acknowledge, prepare,
and manage unavoidable stress.
The academic setting observed for this clinical practice experience was Western
University Virtual College of Nursing. Western University's vision for the College of Nursing is
STRESS MANAGEMENT & RESILIENCE TRAINING 4
a nationally recognized center of excellence in inquiry, knowledge, and expertise. The college
offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Master of Science (MSN), and Doctor of
Nursing Practice (DNP), producing the next generation of nursing leaders focusing on innovative
practices to address the challenges of a changing culturally diverse healthcare environment.
Western University has the initiative to increase the diversity of its student population. Of the
student population currently enrolled in the nursing program, over 50-percent are Asian, Black,
Hispanic, and Multiracial.
In a recent review of Western University's pre-licensure program, the syllabus revealed
two Psych Mental Health Nursing modules. Neither module includes a curriculum addressing
stress management, compassion fatigue, coping mechanisms, or resilience training specifically
for the nurse. A need-gap-analysis was performed to identify the need for this current BSN
program to include a Stress Management & Resilience Training module, incorporating the nature
of stress, related key concepts, and the negative psychological & physiological effects with
prolonged exposure, specifically designed as this topic relate to the student and professional
nurse. Learners and the overall nursing profession would benefit from such a module
specifically tailored to manage stress better and become more resilient as a nurse. Job-related
stress for the nurse leads to burnout, compromising patient care, and increasing healthcare costs
in the United States. (Magtibay, Chesak, Coughlin, & Sood, 2017). There is a huge need for
student nurses to identify individual stressors accurately, assess risk factors, and explore various
techniques to manage/decrease stress.
This course proposed is an interactive, insightful, and fun course designed to address the
previously mentioned curriculum gap with evidence-based training and student-centered learning
activities. Students will gain insight into specific stress management concepts and have
STRESS MANAGEMENT & RESILIENCE TRAINING 5
opportunities to practice different techniques and strategies. Students will learn how to better
manage and decrease stress in their own lives. The course will teach students how to build
resiliency, become mentally stronger, and handle difficult situations using mindful techniques.
Through the course, the student will recognize the negative physical and psychological effects of
prolonged stress on the body. Students will have an opportunity to evaluate their own stressors
and create an individual stress management plan usable to them immediately.
The constructivist theory applies to the development of this Stress Management and
Resilience Training course. In the constructivist theory, instruction methods are delivered, and
strategies are given to assist learners in exploring complex topics to move on to a higher level of
thinking. The constructivist theory has specific principles useful in developing a nursing
education course: 1) Emphasis on the identified context in which skills will be learned and
applied, 2) Emphasis on learner control, the capability to learn and actively use what is learned
3) Material is presented in a variety of different ways, 4) Supports problem-solving skills for
higher learning, 5) Assessments are based on knowledge and skills. (Ertmer & Newby, 2013).
The development of this Stress Management and Resilience Training course used the
constructivist theory ideas and principles. Each week students will be given Stress Management
related topics with specific weekly key concepts and incorporate active-learning strategies to
build knowledge into developed skills throughout the course continuously.
The question considered when developing this course module was, "How can our
program better prepare the student nurse to manage stress in school and also in the future nursing
workforce?" As previously discussed, the purpose of this curriculum proposal is to fulfill the
identified curriculum gap identified in the current BSN pre-licensure program and include a
Stress Management and Resilience Training module. The rationale behind the proposed
STRESS MANAGEMENT & RESILIENCE TRAINING 6
curriculum change is to ensure Western University's nursing program continues to change lives
by promoting health while maintaining quality and safety in health care systems. This change
proposal will provide the learner with an individual, usable, engaging, thought-provoking, and
meaningful learning experience strategically developed to better equip each nursing student to
deliver quality patient care. [Show Less]