INFLUENCE OF INITIAL NURSING EDUCATIONAL PREPARATION ON PATIENT ASSESSMENT (PROBLEM SOLVING).
Contributors: University Of Illinois At Chicago, Health Sciences Center.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 266
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Health.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect influence of the type of educational program attended on the data collection and nursing diagnosis (NDX) identification abilities of generic nursing students from associate degree (AD) and baccalaureate degree (BD) nursing programs. Secondary purposes were to determine if there were any differences between the AD and BD students with regard to (1) data collection efficiency, (2) data collection proficiency, (3) the type of patient data collected, and (4) the number and types of NDXes identified.

A non-equivalent groups, post-test only design was utilized. A convenience sample of 91 AD students and 86 BD students was obtained from 5 randomly selected AD programs and 6 randomly selected BD programs within a three state area of the mid-west. Participants completed the Background Inventory, designed to provide information pertaining to demographic and academic characteristics; the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal; and two latent image, branching type clinical simulations: PMP-Brown and PMP-Ellis. Analyses of variance--with schools nested within programs, Chi-Square, multiple regression techniques and path analysis were used to analyse the data. Performance on each simulation was analyzed separately.

Analysis of performance on PMP-Brown demonstrated statistically significant differences in the diagnostic ability of the two groups (F = 5.16; df = 1,1; p < .05). No differences were demonstrated in data collection efficiency or proficiency or in the types of data collected or types of NDXes identified. Path analysis revealed an effect coefficient of .411 for the influence of education on overall assessment ability. On PMP-Ellis, no statistically significant differences were demonstrated between the groups' performances; path analysis revealed an effect coefficient of -.067 for the influence of education on overall assessment ability.

Path analyses results provided conflicting evidence regarding influence of type of program attended on overall assessment ability. However, on one simulation, BD participants identified more complete nursing diagnoses statements than did AD participants, thus providing partial support for a claim that BD graduates are better diagnosticians.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-08, Section: B, page: 2629.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, 1985.

School code: 0806.