PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF NURSE ANESTHESIA FACULTY IN CLINICAL INSTRUCTIONAL ROLES (LABORATORY).
Contributors: University of Kansas.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 207
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this study was to identify the value perceptions and actual instructional practices of nurse anesthesia faculty in clinical teaching environments. The data was to serve a two-fold purpose: first, to determine whether or not professional teacher education preparation for nurse anesthesia faculty reflected a thorough understanding of the role of the instructor in a clinical environment, and second, to determine to what extent faculty utilize constructive teaching methods in clinical areas to optimize student learning.

Examination of five research questions was accomplished by a self-administered questionnaire developed by the investigator and distributed to a national sample of 700 nurse anesthesia faculty. The questionnaire consisted of four parts: biographic information, assessment of instructional values, identification of instructional methods, and simulated clinical problem solving situations. All items were developed to reflect a specific dimension of teaching behaviors or activities that comprised the Laboratory Concept described by Mary Infante (1975). Ten components of the laboratory concept were chosen for study.

Findings revealed that faculty generally agreed with the philosophic values that underlie the laboratory concept with the exception of the component describing utilization of direct patient contact for student experience. Instructional strategies that supported these values were less highly utilized and eight of ten components showed statistically significant differences (p < .05) between what faculty say they believe to be important about teaching and what they actually do in the clinical area that would support these values. Faculty recognize constructive problem solving approaches to resolving clinically based instructional problems but no statistically significant association was demonstrated between instructional strategies and problem solving approaches. Respondents who had completed graduate degrees were more likely to utilize tenets of the laboratory concept than those with greater teaching experience or those who had completed professionally mandated teacher education prerequisites.

Conclusions were drawn that faculty underutilize instructional techniques that support their value systems and that present teacher education efforts have not shown that such programming is adequately or comprehensively reflective of the role of nurse anesthesia faculty.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-08, Section: A, page: 2403.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, 1984.

School code: 0099.