Arizona Healing Community Consortium:

The Development of a Unified Nursing Curriculum

 

Special thanks to Sally Doshier and Ro Haddon for providing a synopsis of the history of the Healing Community.

 

              Northern Arizona University (NAU) has had a tradition of working with rural community colleges, integrating distance learning technology and new models of nursing education to provide baccalaureate Nursing education.  In 1995, rural community college directors across Arizona were invited to begin a dialogue about how to best serve rural communities.  That dialogue evolved into what is now known as the Healing Community Consortium (HCC).  The goals of the HCC are to better prepare nurses to work effectively in the increasingly complex and diverse health care system, to optimize limited resources for nursing education in rural communities and to facilitate the process of continued nursing education in rural areas of Arizona.

 

              In the summer/fall 1996, the university faculty and community college faculty agreed upon an organizing framework for the curriculum using Meleis’ model of Transitions. During 1997,  Dr. Meleis facilitated further understanding of Transition Model, and its application in the development of a nursing curriculum for the HCC.

 

              In the academic year of 1997-1998, faculty and directors from community colleges and from the University worked toward the development of a unified curriculum that is consistent across the colleges and university.  It was envisioned that students entering in any of the schools within the HCC will have essentially the same knowledge base for progression through the baccalaureate curriculum. Students beginning their nursing studies in rural community colleges would complete an associate degree and be eligible to continue directly with baccalaureate studies through the University’s statewide program for distance education.  They would enter into classes with NAU students who have completed similar coursework, and complete their upper division requirements together. 

 

              The summer of 1998 provided an opportunity for faculty from all six nursing programs to meet for a week with Dr. Meleis, and develop the first four common semesters in Nursing.  That curriculum, ultimately approved through all the necessary institutional and state board processes, was implemented beginning the summer of 1999 at NAU, and the fall of 1999 in the community colleges. The first cohort of students in upper division coursework, using Interactive Instructional Television and web-based instruction, was planned for the fall semester of 2000.

             

              Many challenges faced the faculties of nursing that are educating nurses for the rural communities of Arizona.  While the process has been arduous at points, it has fostered a collegial relationship among faculties that frequently feel isolated from a larger community of peers. There has been several discussions regarding the delivery of the Masters degree in Nursing.  Long term outcomes affecting the education of nurses and the delivery of health care in rural Arizona have been developed. 

 

              Since 1995, there have been many changes in the curriculum and in the implementation of the philosophy of the Healing Community.  The conceptual framework developed in the original meetings, remain a core component of every course, at the community colleges and at the University.  In the Spring of 2006, a “Proposal for Partnership” will be presented to the members.  Several student admission options will be presented for a stronger relationship with the community colleges and the University.