Use of Nursing Concepts in Program and Course Descriptions An Analysis of Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Programs in the United States

Background: Ongoing discussions address how and when to introduce nursing concepts in nursing education. Purpose: To examine whether baccalaureate nursing programs use 4 nursing concepts in their program and course descriptions. Methods: Researchers explored websites of 300 US bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) programs and assigned scores based on how many of 4 nursing concepts (context, holism, health, and caring) were represented in program and 3 course descriptions. Results: Mean program and course scores were 2.51, 0.96, 1.17, and 1.18, respectively. Programs and courses included between 0 and 4 concepts in their descriptions. There was a significant difference in program scores between BSN programs in 4 US regions. The most frequently identified concept was "context" in program descriptions and "holism" in course descriptions. Conclusions: Discipline-specific concepts are missing in many baccalaureate programs and course descriptions, which raises questions about how and when nursing students are learning what nursing is.