Estimation of Knowledge and Attitudes of Student Nurses regarding the Provision of Nursing Education

Background: Nursing education, worldwide, includes general and specialized nursing care, aimed to prepare nurses to fulfill their multi-dimensional role in health care settings. Concerted efforts over the years have been directed towards the provision of uniform, university level nursing education in Greece. Aim: To identify the attitudes of student nurses in Greece about their pre-registration nursing education. Method: A descriptive research design was used. The data were collected through a specially designed questionnaire with 24 questions, administered to a convenience sample of 265 student nurses (100% response) from 3 Greek higher educational institutes. The study was conducted between September and December 2009. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics (percentage, range, mode, median) and parametric testing (independent sample T-test), using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 17. Results: Nursing students from both university and technological educational institute (TEI) departments of nursing had good knowledge (x=2.38 and x=2.80, respectively), with the level of knowledge of the universities students higher than that of the TEI students (t= -2.785, df=263, p<0.005). Regarding the teaching methods of the theoretical courses, the TEI students believed the level was moderate, while the university students believed it was very good. The TEI students rated the course material and technical infrastructure (theory and laboratories) moderate, and the university students good. Both TEI and university students indicated that clinical practice offered important knowledge and experience. Finally, both TEI and university students expressed the belief that nursing education in Greece should become uniform (i.e., university level). Conclusions: Uniform, university level nursing education should be not simply an idea, but should be put into effect.

Category: Volume 51, N 1
Hits: 630 Hits
Created Date: 15-03-2012
Authors: Nick Α. Bakalis , Eleni Kourkouli , Panagiota Mpleta , Diamanto Pissa-Dimitriou , Maria Batsolaki