A Comparative Study of the Geriatric Nursing Curriculum in Iran and USA

Comparison of the geriatric nursing with other curriculums may help to identify strengths and weaknesses of the program and provide an opportunity to improve the program and competition. This study aimed to compare the geriatric nursing curriculum in Iran and USA.
This descriptive comparative study was conducted in 2014 by using the Brody's four steps pattern. The two curriculums were selected among geriatric nursing education curriculums using the purposeful sampling method in Iran (Tehran University of Medical Sciences) and USA (John Hopkins University). Information on the web page of the two universities was used for comparison of the two curriculums in 2014. Comparative elements were the mission and objectives, course contents, student admission, graduate working opportunity, and tuition.
The results showed differences and similarities among the two curriculums. In Iran, the main focus of program was on clinical, teaching and research areas and students were admitted through norm testing, which is centralized. In USA, admission was followed by a decentralized pattern and students posed selection criteria. The curriculum in USA was presented separately by focusing on prevention and clinical areas.
According to the findings of the present study, using a decentralized method and considering multi-criteria for admitting student, defining objective working opportunity, defining program for clinical setting and community health care separately, designing an educational program for tutor and researcher training, to improve geriatric nursing graduate programs are offered in Iran.