Need and baseline for harmonising nursing education in respiratory care : preliminary results of a global survey

Background The COVID-19 pandemic confirmed that respiratory nurses are critical healthcare providers.Limited knowledge is available about appropriate education to prepare nurses to deliver high-qualityrespiratory care. A survey was developed by the International Coalition for Respiratory Nursing (ICRN)group to identify the need for a respiratory nursing core curriculum.Method A 39-item survey was distributed to 33 respiratory nursing experts in 27 countries. Questionsasked about current roles, perception of need, expectations for a core curriculum project and respiratorycontent in nursing education in their countries.Results 30 responses from 25 countries were analysed; participants predominantly worked in academia(53.3%, 16/30) and clinical practice (40%, 12/30). In total, 97% (29/30) confirmed a need for a corerespiratory nursing curriculum. Post-registration nursing programmes at bachelor (83.3%, 25/30) andmasters (63.3%, 19/30) levels include internal/medical nursing care; less than half identified separaterespiratory nursing content. The core educational programme developed should include knowledge (70%,21/30), skills (60%, 18/30), and competencies (50%, 15/30), with separate paediatric and adult content.Conclusion Survey results confirm a wide variation in nursing education and respiratory nursing educationacross the world, with many countries lacking any formal educational programmes to prepare nursescapable of providing enhanced quality respiratory care. These findings support the need for a corerespiratory curriculum. To advance this significant work the ICRN group plans to conduct a Delphi studyto identify core curriculum requirements for respiratory nursing education at pre-registration and advancededucational levels to flexibly meet each country’s specific educational requirements for recognition ofrespiratory nursing speciality practice