INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION SOURCES, YEARS OF NURSING PRACTICE, AND PRACTICE SPECIALTY AREAS ON LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE LEGAL PRINCIPLES REQUIRED FOR PRACTICE AS IDENTIFIED BY REGISTERED NURSES.
Contributors: Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 154
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purposes of this study were to (1) examine the relationship between sources of legal information and the perceived ability to apply legal principles to practice, (2) determine the differences between staff nurses and nurse managers in their perceived ability to apply legal principles to practice, (3) determine how the number of years in practice affect the perceived ability to apply legal principles to practice, and (4) determine whether practice in specific clinical specialties affect the perceived ability to apply legal principles to practice.

The respondents were 221 practicing registered nurses from a variety of health care settings who completed a questionnaire developed for this study. The data were analyzed using a t Test, a one-way ANOVA, and Pearson product-moment correlations.

The following findings were reported: (1) Self-directed learning resources were more strongly correlated with the perceived ability to apply legal principles to practice than were externally-directed learning resources. (2) Nurse managers reported a greater ability to apply legal principles to practice than did staff nurses. (3) There was a modest correlation between the perceived ability to apply legal principles to practice and increased years in practice. (4) There was no difference among nurses from different clinical specialty areas in their perceived ability to apply legal principles to practice. (5) In response to an open-ended question, those nurses with a greater number of years in practice expressed more concerns about general lack of law-related knowledge. Managers expressed more concerns about delegation of responsibilities and the documentation of care than did staff nurses.

Reported use of self-directed learning was the most significant correlate of the perceived ability to apply legal principles to practice. With increased years of practice, nurses identified more legal concerns. These two findings have implications for staff development and continuing educators.

Consideration must be given to the development of a broader range of self-directed learning resources related to the legal aspects of nursing care for ongoing use within health care institutions.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-11, Section: B, page: 3248.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, 1987.

School code: 0163.