Abstract
BACKGROUND: Multi-morbidity poses complex challenges associated with more complex clinical management, poor treatment outcomes, longer hospital stays, and increased healthcare costs. In this context, nurses serve as crucial agents in delivering holistic patient-centered care among multimorbidity patients but there exists a noticeable gap in their curriculum which needs to be modified. Nursing faculty plays a vital role in advancing the nursing profession and nursing curriculum modification and development is one of the most important roles of nursing faculty. This study explores the perspectives of nurses and nursing faculties regarding the integration of multimorbidity into nursing curricula. METHODS: Using a phenomenological approach, the study conducted 25 in-depth interviews have been conducted among nursing teachers, nursing officers, and community health officers across various nursing colleges and health centers in Odisha, India. Open-ended questions and probes were employed to elicit rich insights. The digitally recorded interviews were transcribed, translated into English, and then thematically analyzed. FINDINGS: Thematic analysis of the in-depth interview transcripts revealed two overarching themes: "Patient with multimorbidity requires evidence-based, patient-centered care" "mitigating challenges faced by patient, Nurse and health sector." Participants enunciated the importance of integration of multimorbidity management in nursing curricula. They highlighted the challenges faced by nurses/nurse educators due to knowledge gaps of nursing personnel on multimorbidity and have suggested to inculcate the management of multimorbidity in the nursing curriculum. CONCLUSION: The nurses occupy a unique position as frontline healthcare providers, both within hospital settings as nursing officers and in community setups as community health officers. This study explores the perspectives of nurses and nursing faculties to integrate the management of multimorbidity in the nursing curriculum. This study revealed the significance of integration of multimorbidity in the nursing curriculum and advocate to add this.