Beth Ann Swan, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, led the March 15 learning collaborative call on education transformation, discussing in part her paper published July 2016, “Accelerating design and transforming baccalaureate nursing education to foster a culture of health.” Swan is professor and former dean at the Jefferson College of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Following is a transcript of her comments:

Thank you for the opportunity to share an initiative that we are excited about at the Jefferson College of Nursing – an exemplar of nursing education focusing on didactic and clinical opportunities integrating social determinants of health and population health to support student learning and to improve care for individuals and families. The Jefferson College of Nursing (JCN) at Thomas Jefferson University designed an innovative, forward-thinking 21st century baccalaureate nursing concept-based curriculum. This faculty-led initiative is based on One Jefferson’s mission, Health is All We Do and JCN’s curriculum for health is H.E.R.E. – Humanistic, Evidence-based, Reflective, and Excellence in clinical leaders. The curricular framework that guides the newly designed concept-based baccalaureate curriculum is Promoting Health and Quality of Life Along the Care Continuum. This framework emphasizes the promotion of health and quality of life in a variety of populations during transitions of care from one setting to another and is guided by the curricular themes of innovation, population health, interprofessional collaboration, and practice excellence.

Central to the curriculum is the need to leverage partnerships to support the newly developed course offerings, immersion experiences (formerly clinical experiences), service learning, and experiential opportunities, across the care continuum from acute care to ambulatory care, primary care, home care, and wherever care may be delivered in communities. These partnerships are mutually beneficial to promote health and “foster cross sector collaboration to improve well-being.”

The curriculum for nursing students’ didactic content and immersion experiences is more closely aligned with the evolving role of registered nurses (RNs) beyond the hospital walls, in primary and ambulatory care. Students engage in integrated didactic learning and immersion practicums that promote a culture of health and multiple new and emerging roles of RNs rather than a diseased-based, acute care focused curriculum. Nursing students learn content related to safe and effective care services delivered in primary, ambulatory, and community settings – at the point of living, preparing them with knowledge and skills in care coordination, chronic disease prevention, population health, and team-based, interprofessional care. Specific courses address:

1. health promotion across the lifespan,

2. professional practice,

3. discovery and evidence-based practice,

4. healthcare informatics and innovation,

5. population health, cultural awareness, health equity, health disparities,

6. care coordination and care transitions, and

7. clinical reasoning