From Classroom to Clinic: Bridging the Gap in Nursing Anatomy and Physiology Education

Abstract

Since the 1980's, changes in nursing education have inadvertently led to diminishing anatomy and physiology content in curricula (Taylor et al., 2015). The need for nurses to have a thorough grounding in these subjects is undisputed; however, the pedagogical principles for anatomy and physiology education have been under scrutiny (Perkins, 2019). Anatomy and physiology are typically incorporated as part of bioscience, which also encompasses genetics, microbiology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology (Horiuchi-Hirose et al., 2023). Registered nurses and nursing students often express anxiety about studying bioscience and its perceived difficulty, largely due to difficulties in applying theory to practice (Craft et al., 2013, Craft et al., 2017, Meedya et al., 2019). Despite this, there remains a recognition that bioscience knowledge is important for effective nursing practice (Danielson and Berntsson, 2007, Horiuchi-Hirose et al., 2023).