Development of Curriculum Immersions in a Nurse Practitioner Program: Autism Spectrum Disorder as an Exemplar

Abstract

Nurse practitioner didactic courses are filled with required content and are encouraged to meet new essential standards for population-specific competencies while incorporating evolving contemporary issues. Many programs may ask for guest speakers who are content experts in these specialty lectures. Curriculum immersions are a way to thread themes throughout the coursework as student knowledge and clinical experiences progress. An exemplar of an immersion related to autism spectrum disorder throughout a pediatric nurse practitioner program is reviewed from development to implementation and modeling for future immersions.