Analytical Study of the Research Gap in Competency-Based Curriculum Design for Nursing Education in Nigeria

Competency-based nursing education directly aligns curriculum and assessment with clinical practice outcomes, and the extent to which Nigerian nursing programmes have adopted and empirically evaluated competency-based curriculum design represents an important research gap with direct patient safety implications. This study analytically examined the research gap in competency-based curriculum design for nursing education in Nigeria through systematic review and primary survey research. A systematic scoping review identified 14 publications from 2018 to 2024 on nursing curriculum in Nigeria, of which only 3 applied competency-based design principles and none reported rigorous outcome evaluations. Original survey research was conducted with 120 nurse educators from schools of nursing in Lagos (SW), Kano (NW), and Delta (SS) States. Results showed that competency frameworks were formally documented in only 23.3 percent of programmes, that assessment was predominantly written examination rather than observed clinical competency in 76.7 percent, and that curriculum revision in response to clinical practice changes had occurred within the preceding 5 years in only 31.7 percent. Nurse educators identified West African Health Organisation competency standards as the most appropriate alignment reference but reported inadequate training in competency-based curriculum writing. The study identifies five critical research gaps, proposes a national nursing curriculum competency audit design, and recommends NMCN mandate a competency-based curriculum standard for all accredited nursing programmes.

Keywords: competency-based curriculum, nursing education, Nigeria, curriculum design, research gap