Transforming Graduate Nursing Education in the Context of Complex Adaptive Systems: Implications for Master's and DNP Curricula

The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution and implementation of a graduate nursing program's curricular framework. A number of factors contributed to the realization that the curricular framework needed revision. These factors included the rapid changes occurring in the U.S. health care system, the publication of the 2011 edition of the Essentials of Master's Education in Nursing, and the publication of the Institute of Medicine's report entitled The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2010). A careful analysis of key guiding documents resulted in the development of three central, interrelated concepts to guide this revision, namely, relationship-based care, creative inquiry, and leadership.