Paper
Thursday, 20 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Best Practices in Nursing Education
In Search of Best Practices for Teaching Disaster Preparedness
Deborah J. Persell, MSN, RN, CPNP and Charlotte Young, RN, PhD. Department of Nursing, Arkansas State University, State University, AR, USA
Learning Objective #1: Identify strategies for teaching bioterrorism and disaster preparedness.
Learning Objective #2: Discuss the success for group process as a method for teaching bioterrorism and disaster preparedness.
Previous research of over 1000 students and health care professionals demonstrated similar concerns and lack of knowledge related to caring for victims of bioterrorism and other emergencies.  The purpose of the current study is to identify methods for teaching disaster preparedness that increase knowledge, reduce concern and test the effectiveness of a specific teaching method, group process.            Two sections of an upper division nursing elective, disaster and emergency preparedness, were offered.  Informed consent was obtained and no student withdrew from the class.  All textbooks, teaching methods, and field experiences remained the same between the two courses with the addition of a weekly group session in the second session.  Group sessions were led by a mental health nurse specialist, video or tape recorded, and without the faculty of record for the class.  Each student completed two pre and post-tests previously utilized by the researchers in other studies which identify concerns, attitudes, beliefs and knowledge related to caring for victims of terrorism.            Fifteen students enrolled in the first section and eight in the second.  Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test indicated no significance related to differences in group size.  Data from pre and post-test reveal appropriately increased or decreased concern for personal or family safety should students care for victims of terrorism compared inappropriate concern from previous studies of nursing students from eight universities.  Previously physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and registered nurses averaged 1.3 questions of 10 correct on the knowledge section of the questionnaire.  In this study, students averaged 5.2 questions correct demonstrating a significant increase in knowledge from their pre-test and previous study participants.  Quantitatively there was no statistical difference between the two groups related to group process.  However, qualitative data demonstrates high levels of satisfaction with group process and offers significant insights into student perceptions on this topic. 

           

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