How a nursing curriculum is responding to societal change: A study from New Zealand

Abstract

Nursing is a profession that reflects and responds to enormous societal change. This article outlines three key challenges in healthcare around the world and suggests an urgency for nursing curricula and education to revisit some of its fundamental assumptions and messaging for the next generation of graduates. The challenges described here include the way an aging population demographic, a looming health sector workforce shortfall, and an increasingly multicultural population are impacting commentary about the "nurse of the future" in New Zealand. Against this backdrop, we describe a year-long, national, government-funded research project with 46 stakeholder participants to consider how best to prepare nursing students for culturally centered work in older people's healthcare. This mixed-methodology study drew on multiple data sources and particularly valorized narratives offered by 12 participants from a range of ethnicities who shared their experiences of aging, wellness, and healthcare in their later years. Using perspectives from case study design, cultural lens theory, Kaupapa Māori research, and narrative inquiry methodologies, the analysis of our findings revealed five themes related to positivity, language, social justice, cultural practices, and professionalism. The outputs of the project included a number of text and video teaching resources that are currently being disseminated through professional and higher education networks in New Zealand and abroad. While our study is grounded in nursing education, we hope that many of the processes we followed, and the insights gained will be applicable to disciplines outside of healthcare that seek to rethink their development of student thinking and practice.