Nursing Students' Knowledge, Competence and Attitudes towards Vital Signs Monitoring during Clinical Practice

Theory-practice gap: Nursing students' self-reported depth of understanding of bioscience and its relevance to clinical practice

BACKGROUND

Bioscience subjects are essential as they allow nurses to have a clear understanding of the patient's condition and ultimately allow them to provide appropriate and timeous care. However, these subjects remain a significant problem in the endeavour to produce highly competent nurses.

AIM

The study aimed to investigate the nursing students' self-reported depth of understanding of bioscience and its relevance to clinical practice.

METHODS

A quantitative research approach using a descriptive survey design was employed. The sample (n = 211) included second-, third- and fourth-year undergraduate nursing students. A three-part self-administered questionnaire was adapted and used to collect the data. Data were analysed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 25.0 (IBM SPSS-25). Descriptive statistics and Chi-squared test were performed to describe the relationship among the study variables.

RESULTS

Participants rated their understanding of the application of Human Biology (n = 86, 40.76%) and Pharmacology (n = 88, 41.71%) as good, while Physics (n = 80, 37.91%) and Chemistry (n = 85, 40.28%) were rated as adequate. Most participants rated Human Biology (n = 175, 83.73%) and Pharmacology (n = 181, 86.19%) as essential, while Physics (n = 129, 61.72%) and Chemistry (n = 133, 63.64%) were rated as relevant to clinical practice. Physics (n = 112, 60.54%; n = 95, 50.53%) and Chemistry (n = 126, 68.85%; n = 113 61.41%) were rated as not relevant to monitoring a patient's heart rate and blood pressure. Participants' perception of the relevance of Chemistry in monitoring a patient's blood pressure was statistically significant (χ2 = 6.871 (df 2), p<0.05). Most participants (n = 57, 41.91%) performed at Task specific on Akinsanya's Bionursing model, suggesting an overall understanding of the foundational concepts and principles of bioscience.

CONCLUSION

The findings of the study provided evidence of the students' self-reported depth of understanding and perception of the relevance of bioscience and indicate a need for more emphasis on the importance of bioscience integration in clinical practice.

The clinical neglect of vital signs' assessment: an emerging patient safety issue?

OBJECTIVE

Vital signs assessment is a critical component of acute clinical care. Despite this, research has consistently found that the assessment of these signs is often neglected in clinical practice. This paper highlights three recent cases in the media where the neglect of vital signs assessment resulted in patient mortality.

RESULTS

Recent media reports highlighted the potentially devastating consequences of vital signs not being rigorously assessed including avoidable death. The public needs to be confident they will receive safe, quality health care when admitted to hospital.

CONCLUSION

The neglect of vital signs assessment places patients at risk of poor outcomes. Early detection of clinical deterioration via the assessment of vital signs facilitates prompt medical intervention. Factors contributing to the neglect of vital signs assessment need to be identified and corrective action taken to improve the safety of clinical care.

Determining the effects of blended learning using the community of inquiry on nursing students' learning gains in sudden patient deterioration module

Aims

To determine the effectiveness of blended learning using the community of inquiry framework on nursing students' learning gains in a sudden patient deterioration module.

Design

A quasi‐experimental trial.

Methods

233 Chinese nursing students in their fourth semester of a sudden patient deterioration learning module were assigned to control (N = 113) and experimental group (N = 120). Students in experimental group engaged in community of inquiry‐based blended learning in sudden patient deterioration module, including computer‐aided self‐instruction, team‐based topic discussion and simulation training. Control group learned similar contents through face‐to‐face teaching comprising of a presentation with lecture, tutorial and simulation training. Student assessment of learning gains, knowledge and practical ability was quantified after the interventions.

Results

Compared with control group, students in experimental group had improved student assessment of learning gains (p = .001, Cohen d = 0.69) and practical ability (p < .001, Cohen d = 0.48). Although no significant difference in overall knowledge score, experimental group students did better performance in application and analysis (p = .001, Cohen d = 0.45).