Feasibility study on upgrading the bachelor nursing curriculum in Nepal

Introduction Since the beginning of nursing education in Nepal in 1956, the bachelor of nursing curriculum was developed and has been used since then with a few revisions to address new changes. The aim of this paper was to identify the gap in 2-year bachelor nursing curricula of Nepal. Method This paper employed mixed evaluation methods on various institutions’ participants between the periods of April- May 2012. Focused group discussion, self administered questionnaire, document analysis and workshop were used for data collection. There were BN 2nd year nursing students (108), BN Graduates (33), nursing teachers (29) and policy makers (5). There was a total of 175 respondents. The participants were selected by non-probability purposive sampling method. This was followed by a 3 days’ workshop conducted to review BN curriculum to decide about some changes in the existing curriculum at National Centre for Health Professions Education (NCHPE).The data was analysed using computer to reveal coding structures. Findings All most all BN 2nd year students, graduates, teachers and policy makers answered that some more subjects need to be added in the extended BN program. Similarly, a large proportion of the students, graduates, teachers and policy makers and workshop interaction felt that the existing BN curriculum needs to be extended to 3 years from the existing two years. Conclusion The response from students, graduates, teachers, policy makers' and workshop interactions shows that existing BN curriculum need to be extended to three years from the existing two year to accommodate the gap. It should be standardized by adding new content and subjects and increase practical hours in specialization subject