From classroom to clinic: Bridging the gap in nursing anatomy and physiology education

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, 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).