Creating a 21st century nursing work force: Designing a Bachelor of Nursing program in response to the health reform agenda

This paper demonstrates the processes of designing a nursing curriculum that integrates health care and educational reforms, regulatory requirements and the needs of a modern nursing workforce. In particular, the paper illustrates the application of a curriculum design process. In 2008, the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of South Australia completed the challenging task of designing and implementing a Bachelor of Nursing curriculum to ensure that nursing graduates meet projected health care delivery needs within the Australian context. Creating an educational experience necessary to support Graduates to attend to priorities associated with the projected Australian health demographic was challenging. Through the use of integrating themes, domains of nursing practice and attention to the health care needs and priorities of the population, the curriculum has been designed to produce nurses with the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to contribute to new and innovative health care delivery in Australia.