RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVEL OF NURSING EDUCATION AND NURSES' PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND NURSING CARE ACTIVITIES FOR AIDS PATIENTS WITH PNEUMOCYSTIS CARINII PNEUMONIA (IMMUNE DEFICIENCY).
Contributors: University of California, San Francisco.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 160
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between certain demographic variables of the nurse and the types of problems and the types of nursing care activities identified by nurses for people with AIDS (PWAs) hospitalized with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). The demographic variables of the nurse were (a) level of nursing education, (b) gender, (c) age, (d) work site, (e) highest academic degree, and (f) length of time worked at current institution. This study used retrospective data collected as part of the Quality of Nursing Care of People with AIDS Grant (NIH-NCNR 1 R01 NR02215) with Dr. William Holzemer as Principal Investigator.

A convenience sample of registered nurses (N = 67) who were employed at a community medical center and a university medical center and were assigned to 67 AIDS patients with PCP was used for this study. There were 27 professional nurses (baccalaureate degree in nursing) and 40 technical nurses (associate degree in nursing and diploma). Data were collected on a Nurse Questionnaire (RN-Q) and an Intershift Recording Form (IRF). The qualitative data were categorized and frequencies obtained for patient problems and for nursing care activities. Quantitative data were analyzed using nonparametric statistics.

Signs and symptoms (patient problems) and dependent nursing care activities were reported most frequently on both tools. Nursing diagnoses were used three times more often than medical diagnoses ($x\sp2=41.3$, df = 3, $p<.001$). No correlations between the demographic variables and the type of patient problems and type of nursing care activities were found at the.01 significance level, although some were observed at somewhat larger p values. For example, professional nurses more often used independent nursing care activities than technical nurses at the.019 level. General education academic degree level was more closely correlated with the use of nursing diagnoses and independent activities than was the nursing education degree. Finally, many more nursing activities were reported for patients who were described as less ill than for those described as more ill. This study provided the support for: (a) the usefulness of the categorization of patient problems and nursing care activities; (b) the need for higher education, but not necessarily the BSN; and (c) the findings that nurses in certain institutions practice the same regardless of their experience or educational background.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: B, page: 3401.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, 1992.

School code: 0034.