Curriculum Analysis of Microbiology, Epidemiology, and Infection Prevention and Control Education for Ontario Baccalaureate Nursing (RN) Students During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Registered nurses are accountable for engaging in evidence-informed best practices when providing nursing care. Infection prevention and control measures, which all nurses ought to engage in, are evidence-based practices that can reduce or prevent the transmission of disease-causing microorganisms. The aim of this study, undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic, was to investigate the Ontario Baccalaureate Nursing (RN) Programs curriculum for preparing registered nurses in the areas of microbiology, epidemiology, and infection prevention and control as it is intended by the governing bodies, implemented by the Ontario colleges and universities, and attained by students graduating from the programs. The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) is responsible for program approval, a form of professional program accreditation; as the delegated regulatory body, the CNO has the authority to approve or not Baccalaureate Nursing (RN) Programs in Ontario. In this study, the intended curriculum was determined by identifying the entry-level competencies related to microbiology, epidemiology, and infection prevention and control that are considered by the CNO in program reviews. Implementation of this intended curriculum was investigated by reviewing the published program and course descriptions for all Baccalaureate Nursing (RN) Programs in Ontario that were approved by the College of Nurses in Ontario at the time of this study. Attainment of the intended curriculum by graduating students was investigated through interviews with 12 fourth-year nursing students enrolled in and attending a CNO-approved Ontario Baccalaureate Nursing (RN) program. This study found differences among programs in implementation of the curriculum related to microbiology, epidemiology, and infection prevention and control and among participating students in their self-identified attainment of the curriculum, and reporting of knowledge deficits related to microbiology, epidemiology, and infection prevention and control in participating Ontario fourth-year nursing students. The students reported feeling, at best, somewhat prepared to practice during a pandemic. The findings of this study provide important information to educators and institutions preparing nursing students in Ontario Baccalaureate Nursing (RN) Programs by raising awareness of the identified gaps in curriculum in the areas of microbiology, epidemiology, and infection prevention and control.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.004 | 0.019 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".