Background: Nursing education research indicates students believe microbiology unimportant to nursing practice, worsening issues like healthcare-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance. Nursing students also report microbiology as difficult, indicating a high perceived cost of learning. This issue is thought to stem from a theory-practice gap in nursing curricula, engendering beliefs that undervalue the role of microbiology in healthcare. Perceiving material as interesting and valuable for achieving career goals improves retention and performance in college students; increasing interest in and value of microbiology in nursing students may counteract negative practices. Connecting nursing practice to microbiology knowledge and techniques taught in the laboratory may therefore improve U.S. healthcare. “Nursifying” laboratory curricula to connect microbiology to nursing practice and cover recommended competencies will increase interest and utility value in microbiology while reducing perceived costs in nursing students. Results: Cronbach’s alpha was acceptable (a > .7) for all items. Microbiology interest for nursing students did not change while utility value significantly decreased (p <.001). For non-nursing students, microbiology interest significantly increased (p <.04) while utility value did not significantly change. This difference was not explained by perceived cost, as both groups reported a significant decrease (p < .03). Conclusion: “Nursifying” curricula is insufficient to increase interest and utility value of microbiology in nursing students, potentially due to persistent misunderstanding of the reality of nursing in healthcare in undergraduate students. Bridging this understanding gap is crucial for improving nursing education. This work highlights the challenge in achieving desired outcomes of microbiology educational standards recommended in research and professional society literature.
