An Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Development of an Opioid Crisis Elective for BSN and RN-to-BSN Students

Abstract

Background: The nation's opioid crisis has caused the nursing profession to examine pain management practices, including assessment of pain, diagnosis, and treatment. Nursing programs have the opportunity to play a vital role in addressing the opioid crisis by enhancing the pain management content in their curriculum. Method: A nursing elective course was designed and implemented that allowed nursing students to examine appropriate pain assessment, the role of the nurse, best practices in pharmaceutical treatment, and attitudes and biases that may exist. The course was designed by a pharmacist and co-taught with a nurse practitioner. Results: The course consisted of 25 nursing students mixed from the baccalaureate nursing (BSN) degree and RN-to-BSN programs. There was a success rate of 100% and an overall satisfaction rate of 97%. Conclusion: This course met several goals: (a) the need for an elective; (b) achievement of two nursing program outcomes; (c) increased nursing student knowledge relating to appropriate pain management using an interdisciplinary approach; and (d) camaraderie created between school programs. [ J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(6):360–363.]

Impact of Nursing Clinical Elective Courses on New Graduate Nurses' Clinical Practice

“…Of the 30 articles, 11 provided evaluation data on the course itself, including the quality of the course, satisfaction with the course, how well the course met the objectives, and the student's intent in going into the specialty field after graduation. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Another 17 studies evaluated student-related outcomes immediately following the course, such as knowledge, confidence, attitude, and perceptions related to the content. 4,5,12,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Two other studies did not evaluate student outcomes.…”

“…Key search terms included education OR outcomes of education AND clinical elective OR elective course. Of the 30 articles, 11 provided evaluation data on the course itself, including the quality of the course, satisfaction with the course, how well the course met the objectives, and the student's intent in going into the specialty field after graduation 8-18. Another 17 studies evaluated student-related outcomes immediately following the course, such as knowledge, confidence, attitude, and perceptions related to the content 4,5,12,19-32.…”