The challenge of the biosciences in nurse education: A literature review

Aims and objectives To review relevant literature that addresses the challenges of the biosciences in nurse education. More precisely, the review aims to explore the literature, concerning students’ learning, learning contexts and methodological issues and identify any significant gaps. Background Knowledge of anatomy, physiology and biochemistry is essential for the understanding of human beings and for full appreciation of the concepts of illness and disease. The current status would seem to be that the required competencies within bioscience subjects are difficult to acquire and students have high rates of failure. Design Integrative review. Methods The research was performed on CINAHL, ERIC, Medline and British Nursing Index databases in a period from 2013–2017. Descriptive analytical methods were used for the initial research trawl. Findings The search strategy resulted in 23 papers. The results of this review shed light on certain deficiencies in the research field looking at the biosciences in nurse education. There is a distinct lack of intervention studies and, thereby, knowledge of how best to support students’ learning in effective ways. Of note is that there are no field study approaches identified in the review sample. Conclusion Many of the papers are single studies and course evaluations which may be seen as too narrow and inadequate as perspective. Students appear satisfied with the courses in the biosciences, but there seems to be no correlation between satisfaction and achievement. Relevance to clinical practice Understanding and being able to give coherent rationales for the bioscience content in the nursing curricula are crucial and must be established in relation to its relevance to the dynamic nature of patient care, technological advances and demographic realities. Only on that basis can the primacy of this content be seen as relevant to the aspiring student nurse.