| Course | NURS 8542 Curriculum Change: Applying Research Strategies to Prepare Tomorrow's Nursing Education Programs |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 8 |
| Paper type | Curriculum revision proposal |
| Length | About 1,270 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 8542 Week 8
One Course Retired, Two Merged, One Moved: A Revision Proposal for a Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum Built on Six Terms of Program Evidence
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 8542: Curriculum Change: Applying Research Strategies to Prepare Tomorrow's Nursing Education Programs
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
One Course Retired, Two Merged, One Moved: A Revision Proposal for a Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum Built on Six Terms of Program Evidence
Summary for the Committee
This proposal asks the undergraduate curriculum committee to approve four linked changes to the prelicensure baccalaureate program, effective with the fall cohort two catalog years from now. It retires Professional Nursing Concepts (NURS 305, 2 credits). It merges Fundamentals (NURS 210, 5 credits) and Health Assessment (NURS 220, 3 credits) into one course, Foundations of Assessment and Care (NURS 215, 7 credits). It creates Prioritization and Interprofessional Practice (NURS 415, 3 credits), a graded simulation and clinical course in the senior fall term. And it moves Community (NURS 420) from the senior fall to the junior spring term to make room for the new course. The nursing major remains at 51 credits. Each change answers a finding from the program's own evidence, summarized below, and the plan includes a transition path for students already enrolled.
The Problem the Proposal Solves
Four analyses completed this year point to the same problem. Six terms of program data showed the proportion reaching the exit exam's management-of-care benchmark sliding from 71% to 62%, with the decline concentrated among transfer students, whose results fell from 60% to 38% while traditional students held between 72% and 76%. The gap analysis found three reasons the delivered curriculum gives students less multi-patient practice than the catalog promises: transfer students' prior clinical courses often include single-patient assignments only, the main clinical partner now limits students to two patients and simulation in Medical-Surgical I fell from 25% to about 8% of clinical hours during a coordinator vacancy. The curriculum map showed management of care introduced in four courses and demonstrated in none. The crosswalk to the AACN Essentials found three domains, systems-based practice, informatics and personal and professional development, with no graded task anywhere, and interprofessional partnership taught but never assessed (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2021).
Since the licensure examination began testing clinical judgment as a construct of its own, prioritizing among competing needs has been scored rather than assumed (Dickison et al., 2019). A curriculum that cannot show students demonstrating that ability before graduation is misaligned with both the profession's competencies and its licensure test. No new rationale is introduced here; every change traces to one of these findings.
The Changes
Change 1: Retire NURS 305. Rationale: its outcome, professionalism, is demonstrated in the senior practicum and reinforced in two other courses; its graded work, a complete or incomplete journal, produced no usable evidence of learning. Its legal and ethical content moves to NURS 450, and a graded reflective component with a rubric moves into the clinical courses. Evidence: curriculum map, gradebook records. Outcome served: frees two credits for outcome 5.
Change 2: Merge NURS 210 and 220 into NURS 215. Rationale: students currently learn assessment and basic care in parallel courses with separate clinical days, and two-patient assignments begin only at the end of fundamentals. A merged course allows integrated assessment-and-care clinical days with two-patient assignments from mid-term. Evidence: gap analysis, curriculum map. Outcomes served: 2 and 5. Saves one credit through removal of overlapping content on documentation and safety.
Change 3: Create NURS 415. Rationale: management of care and interprofessional collaboration need a place where they are demonstrated, not only introduced. The course combines a graded multi-patient simulation sequence, run under a structured debriefing model, with a clinical rotation in which students carry three to four patients under faculty supervision at a partner willing to support it. Its graded tasks also add a cost-and-resources component to the care plan, which addresses systems-based practice. Evidence: map, crosswalk, simulation appraisal. Outcomes served: 4 and 5; Essentials domains 6 and 7. Simulation is used as a supplement, not as a substitute for clinical hours, because the program cannot yet meet the conditions that the national simulation study required (Hayden et al., 2014).
Change 4: Move NURS 420 to the junior spring term. Rationale: makes room for NURS 415 in the senior fall term without lengthening the program, and places community before the senior courses that draw on it. Evidence: sequencing review. Outcome served: 3.
Two smaller changes require no new credits: an informatics rubric applied to an existing electronic record activity in NURS 310 (Essentials domain 8) and a graded professional development plan in NURS 450 (domain 10).
Plan of Study Before and After
Table 1 compares the current and proposed plan of study for the nursing major.
Table 1
Nursing Major Plan of Study, Current and Proposed (Credits)
| Term | Current plan | Credits | Proposed plan | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sophomore spring | 210 Fundamentals; 220 Health Assessment; 230 Pharmacology; 305 Professional Concepts | 13 | 215 Foundations of Assessment and Care; 230 Pharmacology | 10 |
| Junior fall | 310 Medical-Surgical I; 320 Mental Health | 10 | 310 Medical-Surgical I; 320 Mental Health | 10 |
| Junior spring | 330 Maternal-Child; 340 Evidence-Based Practice | 9 | 330 Maternal-Child; 340 Evidence-Based Practice; 420 Community | 13 |
| Senior fall | 410 Medical-Surgical II; 420 Community | 10 | 410 Medical-Surgical II; 415 Prioritization and Interprofessional Practice | 9 |
| Senior spring | 450 Leadership and Senior Practicum; nursing elective | 9 | 450 Leadership and Senior Practicum; nursing elective | 9 |
| Total | 51 | 51 |
The junior spring term rises to 13 credits, which remains within the university's full-time load and below the 16-credit level at which the program has seen withdrawals increase.
Resource Implications
Faculty load. Retiring NURS 305 and merging 210 and 220 release three credits of didactic teaching per cohort, which covers most of the didactic portion of NURS 415. The clinical portion requires one additional clinical group per cohort, estimated at 0.4 of a full-time clinical instructor.
Simulation. NURS 415 needs the simulation coordinator position filled at full time, which is already funded, and about 30 hours of simulation center time per cohort. Two faculty would complete simulation facilitation training before the first offering, consistent with the conditions identified in the earlier appraisal.
Clinical placements. NURS 415 needs a partner that will allow three-to-four patient assignments. The second largest partner has agreed in principle, subject to a supervision ratio of eight students to one instructor. NURS 215 needs no additional placements, because it uses the same sites as the two courses it replaces.
Library and laboratory. No new costs beyond simulation scenario development, estimated at 40 faculty hours.
Transition for Enrolled Students
Students admitted under the current catalog remain under it unless they choose the new one in writing. Students who have completed NURS 210 and 220 receive credit for NURS 215. Students who have completed NURS 305 keep the credit as a nursing elective. Students under the current catalog who have not yet taken NURS 420 when it moves will take it in the term the new schedule offers, and the program will run one final senior fall section for students who would otherwise be delayed. Transfer students admitted from the first affected term onward will have their prior fundamentals courses evaluated for clinical content, not only title and credits, and those without two-patient experience will complete a 30-hour bridge practicum before NURS 310.
Curriculum texts warn that revisions fail in transition more often than in design, because students caught between catalogs bear costs no one planned for (Iwasiw et al., 2020). The rules above are written so that no current student loses credit or time.
Requested Action
The committee is asked to approve the four changes and the two rubric additions as a package, so that credits continue to balance, and to forward them for school and university review in time for the catalog deadline. An evaluation plan with baselines, indicators and a decision rule will accompany the proposal at the next stage.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). The Essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education.
Dickison, P., Haerling, K. A., & Lasater, K. (2019). Integrating the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Clinical Judgment Model into nursing educational frameworks. Journal of Nursing Education, 58(2), 72-78. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20190122-03
Hayden, J. K., Smiley, R. A., Alexander, M., Kardong-Edgren, S., & Jeffries, P. R. (2014). The NCSBN National Simulation Study: A longitudinal, randomized, controlled study replacing clinical hours with simulation in prelicensure nursing education. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 5(2 Suppl.), S3-S40. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2155-8256(15)30062-4
Iwasiw, C. L., Andrusyszyn, M.-A., & Goldenberg, D. (2020). Curriculum development in nursing education (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
The Walden NURS 8542 Week 8 instructions
The proposal assignment typically asks you to present a curriculum revision as a document a committee could approve. Expect a longer paper, often more than ten pages, with a plan of study table. Lead with a summary a committee member could read alone. Restate the problem using only evidence established earlier in the term. List each change with its rationale, the evidence behind it and the outcome it serves. Compare the current and proposed plans of study so the credit totals can be checked. Address resources, including faculty, clinical placements and simulation. Write transition rules for students already in the program, and close with the specific action you are asking the committee to take.
How this NURS 8542 Week 8 example is built
A summary paragraph lists all four changes, the credit total and the effective date. The problem section draws together the data analysis, gap analysis, curriculum map and crosswalk, with Dickison and colleagues cited on clinical judgment testing. Each change appears under an italic label with rationale, evidence, outcome served and credit effect. Hayden and colleagues explain why simulation is a supplement in the new course. Table 1 shows the current and proposed plan of study term by term, with both columns totaling 51 credits. Resource implications are grouped under four headings. The transition section gives rules for each group of enrolled students, citing Iwasiw and colleagues, and the paper ends with the requested action.
Where the marks sit in the NURS 8542 Week 8 rubric
Grading for a revision proposal tends to focus on whether the changes are justified by earlier evidence, whether the document is internally consistent and whether it is feasible. A proposal that introduces a new rationale late, with nothing behind it, usually loses credit. Credit totals, the plan of study and the list of changes must agree, since a mismatch would be caught by any committee. Feasibility is judged by how specifically staffing, simulation and placements are addressed. Transition rules earn credit when a registrar could apply them without asking questions. Professional format, a usable summary and APA citations make up the remainder. Faculty also notice whether the summary alone would let a busy committee member vote with confidence.
Common NURS 8542 Week 8 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Revision proposals are often weakened by changes that do not trace to any finding, or by a plan of study whose credits fail to add up. Another frequent gap is silence on clinical placements, which makes a new clinical course look unrealistic. Some papers forget students already enrolled, which a committee would raise immediately. Build your table first and check the totals line by line. Then write each change so that a reader can find its evidence in an earlier assignment. Our writers can prepare a proposal for the revision you have in mind, with a plan of study, resources and transition rules. Keep a short list of earlier findings beside you while drafting, so every change can point to one.
Get a NURS 8542 Week 8 example written to your instructions
Attach the Week 8 prompt, the rubric and any proposal template the section issued, and a NURS 8542 revision proposal example returns with the summary page, numbered changes, both plans of study and the transition rules. First custom one free, 24 to 48 hours. Nothing from your own catalog or committee minutes is needed; the proposal revises an invented program.
More NURS 8542 papers and DNP samples
- NURS 8542 Week 1: Evidence Threshold Post
- NURS 8542 Week 2: Program Data Analysis
- NURS 8542 Week 3: Research Appraisal Paper
- NURS 8542 Week 4: Gap Analysis Paper
- NURS 8542 Week 5: Curriculum Map Paper
- NURS 8542 Week 6: Accreditation Crosswalk
- NURS 8542 Week 7: Curriculum Removal Post
- NURS 8542 Week 9: Approval Pathway Memo
- NURS 8542 Week 10: Program Evaluation Plan
- NURS 8542 Week 11: Course Reflection Paper
- NURS 8540 Week 8: Faculty Mentorship Plan
- NURS 8512 Week 8: DNP Evaluation and Fidelity Plan
- NURS 8600 Week 8: DNP sustainment handoff plan
- NURS 8310 Week 8: Population Burden Estimate
NURS 8542 Week 8 questions, answered
How large a revision should the proposal make?
Large enough to answer the evidence and small enough to be approvable, which usually means a handful of coordinated changes rather than a rebuilt program. The example retires one course, merges two and moves a sequence. A proposal replacing an entire plan of study tends to lose the feasibility portion whatever the strength of its rationale.
Do credit totals really have to balance?
In practice yes, and the example holds the total constant. A revision adding credits raises tuition, accreditation and financial aid questions that a course level proposal cannot answer, and committees return those documents rather than approving them. Where a prompt permits a change in total credits, the proposal has to address the consequences directly.
What belongs in the transition section?
Rules a registrar could apply without interpretation: which catalog year governs continuing students, which retired courses substitute for which new ones, and how long the old plan stays available. The example writes them as provisions rather than assurances, since a transition described as careful attention to student needs gives an office nothing to act on.
Where can I find a free NURS 8542 Week 8 sample paper?
You can read the whole revision proposal above, including the plan of study table and the transition rules. There is no charge and no sign-up.
What new course does the NURS 8542 Week 8 proposal create?
Prioritization and Interprofessional Practice, a three-credit senior course combining graded multi-patient simulation with a clinical rotation in which students carry three to four patients.