Existing respiratory nursing curriculum, frameworks, and other documentation relevant to respiratory nursing education: A Scoping Review

Background: Globally, respiratory nursing practice is embedded in all health systems and levels of care. As a critical health workforce, preparing respiratory nurses is fundamental to providing high-quality professional care. Objective: To conduct a scoping review to ascertain current curricula, frameworks, policies, and other key documentation associated with respiratory knowledge and skills education. Methods: A priori protocol consistent with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews was utilised to identify information sources from seven databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, Cochrane, and Web of Science. Results: A total of 26,534 abstracts were identified. After duplicates were removed and inclusion criteria applied, 118 full-text articles were assessed, resulting in seven publications included in this scoping review. The publications were mostly focused on areas like specific education for specialist roles, training and assessment of respiratory skills in nursing students, and curriculum framework associated with respiratory nursing knowledge and skills. The identified publications provided little support for the development of an international standard for respiratory nursing. This is due to the lack of publication of this type of document, fact transversal to all areas in the respiratory field. Conclusions: This review illustrates the scope of the current respiratory nursing educational literature. It highlights the lack of well-researched educational programs and the need for more research to develop an international framework/curriculum for respiratory nursing education.