General Education in Nursing: Current practices and faculty attitudes

Abstract

Currently in North America, basic education for registered nurses is generally furnished within the higher educational system. However, nursing has a relatively short history in that system. It was not until the 1970s in both Canada and the United States that the majority of nursing programs were provided by colleges and universities instead of hospitals. One of the major reasons for this change was a desire to improve nursing education by providing a good general education background. Nursing history indicates that as recognition of the importance of general education grew, the number of nursing programs in higher education also increased; however, this important relationship has not been well studied. No systematic study of the general education content in baccalaureate and college diploma nursing programs in Canada is available. This is regrettable when one considers that nursing curriculum changes have been epidemic in recent years, and anyone familiar with nursing literature can easily perceive that changes have mainly been concerned with the nursing component of the curriculum but not with general education courses. A sound curriculum change should involve both. The Literature on General Education The themes Authorities agree that the concept of general education is ambiguous. To make the matter more complex, the term "liberal education", which itself is interpreted in many ways, has been used interchangeably with general education. Conrad (1978) says that it is meaningless to differentiate between these two terms; they have been used interchangeably for too long and by too many people. Nonetheless, it is possible to find general agreement that professional education is basically concerned with the performance of the individual as a worker, while general education is primarily concerned with civic and personal development. The values, purposes and functions of general education differ from those of professional education. In general education the themes of common humanity and of unity are emphasized. In contrast, professional education is limited to the concerns of particular