Ntegration of Basic Sciences in Undergraduate Nursing Curricula | Biomed grid

Background and aim: Undergraduate nursing curricula often offer basic science courses during the first academic year of the degree program. These include Gross Anatomy, Embryology, Physiology, Pathophysiology, Biochemistry, and Microbiology. They are often given as separate courses, thus lacking horizontal and vertical integration with major nursing courses, such as medical-surgical nursing, critical care nursing, pediatric nursing, maternal nursing, recovery nursing, emergency nursing, operating room nursing, and geriatric nursing. This study aims to survey undergraduate nursing curricula in Lebanon about the integration of basic science courses. Materials and methods: We conducted two separate comprehensive PubMed and Medline searches using the following combined MeSH terms: “Gross Anatomy, Embryology, Physiology, Pathophysiology, Biochemistry, OR Microbiology, AND Nursing, AND Lebanon”. In parallel, we reviewed the nursing degree catalogs and the related description of courses of the nursing programs currently offered by various universities in Lebanon about whether basic sciences are integrated into the curriculum. Results: Our results showed that Anatomy, Embryology, Physiology, Pathophysiology, Biochemistry, and Microbiology are still delivered as separate courses during the first years of the nursing programs which we reviewed. On very few occasions, some of these courses are rather offered during the second or third year. Also, and except for combining Anatomy with Physiology in one course in some of the reviewed programs, proper horizontal integration is still lacking. Embryology is mostly not given as a separate course, but rather either embedded in the Anatomy course or not given at all. Finally, we did not find vertical integration in the 12-degree-programs which we reviewed. Discussion and conclusion: Proper horizontal and vertical integration of basic sciences in undergraduate nursing curricula in Lebanon is still lacking. This often results in a knowledge gap, as well as in difficulty in correlating “normal” with “abnormal” by the students