Nurse Educators’ Experiences in Implementing Concept-Based Teaching

The National League for Nursing called for implementing innovative teaching strategies in nursing education. Concept-based teaching (CBT) is a method that encourages learners to interpret, analyze, and integrate knowledge. Despite reports that CBT improves student outcomes and enhances critical thinking, the adoption of CBT is slow. This qualitative descriptive study, guided by Rogers’s diffusion of innovations theory, explored how nurse educators have experienced implementing CBT. Secondary data were analyzed from interviews conducted with 13 participants. Using constant comparative analysis, seven key themes emerged and were linked to the successful adoption and implementation of CBT: communication, learning from established programs, curriculum alignment, mentoring, policy on revision, active teaching strategy, and evaluation and assessment. Findings also showed that adopting a new idea is determined by the personal attributes that shape the individual’s attitudes toward innovation and influence their decision to adopt or reject it. Further research is needed to explore how faculty members perceive their roles as nurse educators, as existing research has primarily focused on educators’ attributes from the perspectives of students and administrators. Understanding nurse educators’ experiences of using CBT and the factors contributing to the slow adoption of CBT could guide and improve the teaching practices of nurse educators, which affects positive social change for students, educators, educational programs, and health care organizations.