Nursing Curriculum Overview
The nursing curriculum at Ogeechee Technical College (OTC) is designed to prepare students to assume the roles and responsibilities of the Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) graduate. It aligns with the mission, philosophy, and educational outcomes of both the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) and the OTC nursing program.
The Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) curriculum is built upon a single, cohesive set of end-of-program student learning outcomes (EPSLOs). These outcomes apply to one program pathway, a traditional ASN program, and reflect the expectations of entry-level practice at the associate degree level.
In establishing the EPSLOs, faculty incorporated multiple sources of professional guidance to ensure contemporary relevance. The curriculum is aligned with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials, which incorporate the previous Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) prelicensure competencies, the NCLEX-RN test plan client needs categories, and the National League for Nursing (NLN) competencies for associate degree nursing programs. These standards provide the foundation for curriculum design and guide faculty in preparing students for entry-level RN practice. The American Nursing Association (ANA) Code of Ethics and expectations outlined by the Georgia Board of Nursing (GBON) are also reflected in the program’s outcomes, reinforcing the emphasis on professionalism, accountability, and ethical practice.
The faculty’s adoption of Patricia Benner’s Novice to Expert framework further supports the program’s approach to student development. This theory was selected to represent the progression that learners experience as they move from novice nursing students toward competent entry-level practitioners. Faculty promote personal accountability and professional growth through mentoring, guided clinical experiences, and an emphasis on critical thinking.
The ASN curriculum emphasizes the integration of didactic content, simulation and lab activities, and supervised clinical learning to promote achievement of the EPSLOs. Through this design, students develop competencies needed to deliver quality, evidence-based care across diverse populations and healthcare settings.
The EPSLOs are reviewed annually by program faculty and revised as necessary to remain aligned with evolving standards of nursing education and practice. Stakeholder input from advisory committee members and clinical partners contributes to this process, ensuring that the curriculum remains current and responsive to healthcare needs.
Domain Descriptors for the AACN Essentials
AACN Essential Domain: Description
Domain 1: Knowledge for Nursing Practice
Integration, translation, and application of established and evolving disciplinary nursing knowledge and ways of knowing, as well as knowledge from other disciplines, including a foundation in liberal arts and natural and social sciences. This distinguishes the practice of professional nursing and forms the basis for clinical judgement and innovation in nursing practice.
Domain 2: Person-Centered Care
Person-centered care focuses on the individual within multiple complicated contexts, including family and/or important others. Person-centered care is holistic, individualized, just, respectful, compassionate, coordinated, evidence-based, and developmentally appropriate. Person-centered care buildings on a scientific body of knowledge that guides nursing practice regardless of specialty or functional area.
Domain 3: Population Health
Population health spans the healthcare delivery continuum from public health prevention to disease management of populations and describes collaborative activities with both traditional and non-traditional partnerships from affected communities, public health, industry, academia, health care, local government entities, and others for the improvement of equitable population health outcomes.
Domain 4: Scholarship for Nursing Discipline
The generation, synthesis, translation, application, and dissemination of nursing knowledge to improve health and transform health care.
Domain 5: Quality and Safety
Employment of established and emerging principles of safety and improvement science. Quality and safety, as core values of nursing practice, enhance quality and minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance.
Domain 6: Interprofessional Partnerships
Intentional collaboration across professional and with care team members, patients, families, communities, and other stakeholders to optimize care, enhance the healthcare experience, and strengthen outcomes.
Domain 7: Systems-Based Practice
Responding to and leading within complex systems of health care. Nurses effectively and proactively coordinate resources to provide safe, quality, and equitable care to diverse populations.
Domain 8: Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
Information and communication technologies and informatics processes are used to provide care, gather data, form information to drive decision making, and support professionals as they expand knowledge and wisdom for practice. Informatics processes and technologies are used to manage and improve the delivery of safe, high-quality, and efficient healthcare services in accordance with best practice and professional and regulatory standards.
Domain 9: Professionalism
Formation and cultivation of a sustainable professional nursing identity, accountability, perspective, collaborative disposition, and comportment that reflects nursing’s characteristics and values.
Domain 10: Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development
Participation in activities and self-reflection that foster personal health, resilience, and well-being, lifelong learning, and support the acquisition of nursing expertise and assertion of leadership.