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Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to give one example of how understanding our nursing history can benefit and inform our current nursing practice.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to explain one method of increasing research rigor, when documenting data collected via an oral interview.
Background & Problems: Nursing faculty and nursing students may benefit from understanding what was meaningful to veteran nurses and reflect upon how veteran nurse experiences compare to their own experiences with nursing education and training. This study will also promote an appreciation for nursing scholarship, which may inform nursing practice and lead to nursing practice advancements (American Association for the History of Nursing, n.d.). Past studies that have utilized oral histories have focused on individual nurse experiences (Knollmueller & Abrams, 2005) or studied a similar category of nurses, such as retired nurses from academia (Lee & Grady, 2012). However, the review of literature did not reveal any studies that analyzed the oral histories of retired nurses who graduated nursing school as a cohort in the 1950’s. This study would add a more complete, complementary view and a cohort historical experience of nursing education, new nurse experiences, and how nursing practice has changed since the 1950’s.
Methods: Qualitative data will be collected via a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions and via a focus group discussion. In order to maximize rigor, the interview questions and interview guide were developed purposefully, based on recommendations by Glesne (2011) & Patton (2002). For added rigor, documentation tables will be utilized to document how each research question was answered, to document the process of code mapping for data analysis/constant comparative analysis and to document categorizing patterns (Anfara, Brown, & Mangione 2002).