TY - JOUR
T1 - Uniformity along the way
T2 - A scoping review on characteristics of nurse education programs worldwide
AU - RN2Blend consortium
AU - van Kraaij, Julia
AU - Veenstra, Marloes
AU - Stalpers, Dewi
AU - Schoonhoven, Lisette
AU - Vermeulen, Hester
AU - van Oostveen, Catharina
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Dutch Ministry of Health , Welfare and Sports.
Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors
PY - 2023/1
Y1 - 2023/1
N2 - Background: The changing demands on healthcare require continuous development and education in the nursing profession. Homogeneity in nursing qualifications reduces educational inconsistencies between and within countries. However, despite various initiatives, modifying nurse education remains challenging because different countries have their own legislations, structures, motivations, and policies. Objectives: To summarize the characteristics of nurse education programs around the globe and analyze the similarities and differences between them. Design and methods: A scoping review was performed to identify different characteristics of nurse education programs in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Records published between January 2016 and July 2021 were searched in the PubMed, Cinahl, and ERIC databases. The reference lists of all included articles were also searched manually for relevant studies. Articles were eligible if they described nurse education in one or more of the selected countries with a focus on nursing degrees (both undergraduate and postgraduate programs), nursing titles, program duration, study load hours, or practice hours. Data were independently extracted using a predefined extraction sheet. We asked the respective nursing associations for confirmation and to provide any additional information. Results: After searching 9769 records, 117 were included in the synthesis. The included records described characteristics of undergraduate nursing educational programs (n = 50), postgraduate programs (n = 30), or both (n = 37). In total, 86 undergraduate and 82 postgraduate programs were described, with a great variety in degrees, nursing titles, study load hours, and practice hours. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that there is still considerable variation in nurse education programs between countries. These diverse educational pathways lead to different nursing titles and internationally standardized definitions of nursing roles have not been established. This makes it difficult to understand the healthcare role of nurses. Hence, efforts are needed to increase the quality and uniformity of nurse education around the world.
AB - Background: The changing demands on healthcare require continuous development and education in the nursing profession. Homogeneity in nursing qualifications reduces educational inconsistencies between and within countries. However, despite various initiatives, modifying nurse education remains challenging because different countries have their own legislations, structures, motivations, and policies. Objectives: To summarize the characteristics of nurse education programs around the globe and analyze the similarities and differences between them. Design and methods: A scoping review was performed to identify different characteristics of nurse education programs in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Records published between January 2016 and July 2021 were searched in the PubMed, Cinahl, and ERIC databases. The reference lists of all included articles were also searched manually for relevant studies. Articles were eligible if they described nurse education in one or more of the selected countries with a focus on nursing degrees (both undergraduate and postgraduate programs), nursing titles, program duration, study load hours, or practice hours. Data were independently extracted using a predefined extraction sheet. We asked the respective nursing associations for confirmation and to provide any additional information. Results: After searching 9769 records, 117 were included in the synthesis. The included records described characteristics of undergraduate nursing educational programs (n = 50), postgraduate programs (n = 30), or both (n = 37). In total, 86 undergraduate and 82 postgraduate programs were described, with a great variety in degrees, nursing titles, study load hours, and practice hours. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that there is still considerable variation in nurse education programs between countries. These diverse educational pathways lead to different nursing titles and internationally standardized definitions of nursing roles have not been established. This makes it difficult to understand the healthcare role of nurses. Hence, efforts are needed to increase the quality and uniformity of nurse education around the world.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143491280&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105646
DO - 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105646
M3 - Review article
C2 - 36463593
AN - SCOPUS:85143491280
SN - 0260-6917
VL - 120
JO - Nurse Education Today
JF - Nurse Education Today
M1 - 105646
ER -