The McDonaldization of nursing education in Australia

Under the auspices of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) was established in 2010 to set standards for and accredit programs of nursing education under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme. The national accreditation process is central to promoting and protecting the health of the Australian community as it is the chief means of assessing whether a program of study and/or education provider affords a person who completes the program with the knowledge, skills and professional attributes necessary to register as a nurse in Australia. For such a significant undertaking, it is remarkable that the accreditation of nursing education and its impact on the design of undergraduate pre-registration nursing curricula is largely untouched in the literature. This research investigates the process of curriculum design in undergraduate nursing curricula and the role national accreditation plays in informing it. Grounded theory provides a methodological framework for this study that employs a variety of data sources including interviews and written correspondence with curriculum and accreditation stakeholders, along with documents relating to the accreditation process. By arriving at an explanatory theory of how curriculum design is conducted in the context of national accreditation processes, this study enhances the validity of the accreditation process and promotes quality in undergraduate nursing education across Australia.