Paper
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Techniques for Nursing Education
Evaluating the PDA as a “Point of Care” Resource for Clinical Reasoning of Baccalaureate Nursing Students
RuthAnne Kuiper, PhD, RN, CCRN, Nursing, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA
Learning Objective #1: Describe the extent that a PDA can be used as an instructional resource to support the clinical reasoning of nursing students.
Learning Objective #2: Identify the characteristics of learners who would benefit from PDA use in clinical settings.
Purpose: The first aim of the study is to describe the extent that resources provided by a hand held computer promotes learning and problem solving during clinical experiences. The second aim is to determine if the resources provided by the hand held computer provide the necessary technological and instructional support required by students during clinical experiences. The third aim of the study is to determine the differences among students in the use of hand held computers during clinical experiences.
Design: A comparative descriptive design was used during the Spring of 2005 with a purposive sample of senior baccalaureate nursing students using the hand held Dell Axim computer for 7 weeks. Students used clinical reference software that included a drug guide, laboratory manual, medical dictionary, and faculty developed clinical data forms. The Outcome Present State-Test Model of clinical reasoning was the method used to compare a group who used PDAs (N=12) and a comparison group (N=8) who did not.
Findings: The technology provided support for clinical preparation, as a “point of care” resource and in non-clinical settings. While there was a significant difference in the clinical reasoning scores over 7 weeks (p = .000), there was no significant difference between the two groups for any week. A computer self-efficacy measure of 30 items revealed high confidence scores with PDA use at the completion of the study.
Conclusions: PDA use does not hinder clinical preparation, enhances resource availability and can be used in any clinical setting. These findings will be used to prepare for a larger study that examines PDA use over three semesters.   

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