Educational Program

PURPOSE: This rule defines the educational program, curriculum plan and requirements, simulation, and distance education requirements for programs of professional nursing. (1) General Purpose. (A) The program shall have a philosophy and/or mission which guides the curriculum practices. (B) The curriculum incorporates established professional standards, guidelines, and competencies with clearly stated objectives, graduate competencies, and program outcomes. (C) The educational program shall provide planned learning experiences essential to the achievement of the stated philosophy and/or mission and graduate competencies and demonstrate logical progression. (D) The educational program shall provide clinical education to facilitate transition to professional nursing practice with focus on clinical decision making, leadership, and management. (E) A nursing program that uses clinical simulation shall adhere to model standards of best practice. Mapping of clinical simulation experiences to course and clinical objectives as well as graduate competencies should be documented. (2) Curriculum Organization and Development. (A) The nursing faculty shall have the authority and the responsibility to develop, implement, and evaluate the curriculum. Student learning experiences shall be directed and evaluated by the faculty and be consistent with the curriculum plan. (B) There shall be a written curriculum plan that is logically structured to achieve expected individual and aggregate student outcomes. (C) Curriculum design of programs of professional nursing shall foster seamless academic articulation. (D) The curriculum shall be planned so that the number of hours/credits/units of instruction are distributed between theory, lab, and clinical. The curriculum plan shall indicate credit and clock hours allocated to theory, lab, and clinical instruction. (E) Curriculum shall be planned so that each division of the curriculum (whether it be a quarter, term, or semester) has a reasonably equal number of credit hours of instruction and has a beginning and ending date. (F) The number of credit hours required for completion of the nursing program shall not exceed the number of credit hours required for a comparable degree program. (3) Curriculum Requirements. Content may be developed as a separate course or integrated. Integrated concepts shall be evident in the course objectives. Coursework shall include, but is not limited to: (A) Content in the biological, physical, social, behavioral sciences, and quantitative reasoning to provide a foundation for competent, safe, and effective professional nursing practice; (B) Didactic content and supervised clinical experience in the prevention of illness and the promotion, restoration, and maintenance of health in patients across the life span and in a variety of clinical settings or simulation, to include: 1. Using information technology to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision-making; 2. Employing evidence-based practice to integrate best research with clinical expertise and patient values for optimal care, including skills to identify and apply best practices to nursing care; 3. Considering moral, legal, and ethical standards in decision-making processes; 4. Understanding quality improvement processes to measure patient outcomes, identify hazards and errors, and develop changes in processes to provide safe patient care; 5. Considering the impact of policy and finance of the healthcare system; 6. Involving patients in decision-making and care management; 7. Coordinating and managing continuous patient care; 8. Promoting healthy lifestyles for patient(s) and populations; 9. Working in interdisciplinary teams to cooperate, collaborate, communicate, and integrate patient care and health promotion; 10. Providing patient-centered culturally sensitive care with focus on respect for patient differences, values, preferences, and expressed needs; and 11. Equipping students to face unique psychosocial, spiritual, and physical stressors that healthcare professionals may encounter while carrying out their duties. (C) External nursing examinations, if used, shall not be the sole basis for program progression or graduation. (4) Syllabus Construction. Syllabi shall be current and available to all faculty, students, and cooperating agencies. Each syllabus shall include: (A) Course title, current date and year the course is offered, and required pre-requisites; (B) Course description; (C) Course objectives; (D) Teaching or learning strategies; (E) Evaluation methodologies; (F) Grading scale; (G) Course policies; and (H) Clock and credit hour requirements related to theory, lab, and clinical instruction. (5) Distance Education Measures and Opportunities. (A) Nursing programs and courses delivered solely or in part through distance education technologies shall meet the same academic program and learning standards as programs provided in face-to-face format, to include the following: 1. Budgetary support specific to distant learning resources; 2. Course management/delivery platform(s) that are reliable and navigable for students and faculty including measures to ensure exam security shall be in place; 3. Sufficient technical support to assist students and faculty to consistently meet program outcomes including communication of available technical support should be provided to students; 4. Learning and technology resources, to include library resources, that are selected with input of the nursing faculty and are comprehensive, current, and accessible to students and faculty; 5. Student outcomes consistent with stated mission, goals, and objectives of the program; 6. Collaborative and interactive learning activities that assist students in achieving course objectives; 7. Planned, faculty-guided clinical learning experiences that involve direct contact with patients; 8. Learning opportunities that facilitate development of students’ clinical competence and judgment, professional role socialization, and transition to a more advanced scope of professional nursing practice; 9. Evaluation of student outcomes at set intervals; 10. Tracking of student retention and completion rates on an ongoing basis; 11. Faculty and student input into the evaluation process; and 12. Evidence that outcome data are consistently utilized to plan and improve distance learning. AUTHORITY: section 335.036, RSMo Supp. 2021, and section 335.071, RSMo 2016.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 200-2.100. This version of rule filed April 20, 1973, effective May 1, 1973. Amended: Filed Dec. 12, 1975, effective Dec. 22, 1975. Amended: Filed Jan. 8, 1981, effective April 11, 1981. Readopted: Filed March 12, 1981, effective June 11, 1981. Emergency rescission filed Oct. 22, 1981, effective Nov. 1, 1981, expired Feb. 19, 1982 (Original Rule). Rescinded: Filed Oct. 22, 1981, effective Feb. 11, 1982 (Original Rule). Rescinded and readopted: Filed Sept. 25, 1991, effective March 9, 1992. Amended: Filed Dec. 15, 1992, effective Sept. 9, 1993. Amended: Filed Aug. 6, 1998, effective Feb. 28, 1999. Moved to 20 CSR 2200-2.100, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Rescinded and readopted: Filed April 17, 2007, effective Dec. 30, 2007. Amended: Filed Jan. 11, 2013, effective July 30, 2013. Amended: Filed Feb. 5, 2018, effective Aug. 30, 2018. Amended: Filed Feb. 14, 2022, effective Aug. 30, 2022. *Original authority: 335.036, RSMo 1975, amended 1981, 1985, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2018, and 335.071, RSMo 1975, amended 1981, 1999.