Paper: True Admission and the Mothers of Induction: Capturing the Student Experience of Entering Pre-Registration Nurse Education (Sigma Theta Tau International's 21st International Nursing Research Congress)

Tuesday, 13 July 2010: 10:30 AM

Yuen Megson, BSc, MSc
School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
Neil Withnell, BSc, MSc
School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom

Learning Objective 1: recognise the key elements that are perceived to be important for students entering Higher Education for a Nursing programme.

Learning Objective 2: identitfy the support provided to nursing students to enable them to embark on their programmes of study.

Purpose: This paper reports on a study undertaken with pre-registration nurse students at the end of their first six weeks of their training. The aim was to capture students’ views of their experience of entering the nurse training programmes and how congruent these were with their expectations.
Methods: Nursing students (379 Diploma, 178 Degree, n=557) from a 2008 intake were surveyed. Using a three-part questionnaire student experience of pre-admission, admission/ registration and the first module were captured. Questions were predominantly closed in nature although opportunities existed for students to elaborate and clarify responses. 406 returned completed questionnaires, a response rate of 72.8%. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS descriptive statistics. Sub-group analysis was performed on both degree and diploma students. Using thematic analysis qualitative data were themed and where possible re-coded and data items added to the SPSS database.
Results: Generally, the findings highlighted that students found the pre-induction sessions, highly beneficial. The data collected supports a need to continue with pre-induction sessions and to widen these to include elements of interaction with peers in the future. Meeting with personal tutors earlier, and earlier access to web based material, was seen to improve the students’ experience.
Conclusion: This was the first time the school has provided pre-induction sessions and evaluated students’ experiences of them. The analysis of data from the study is being used to identify areas of good practice and aspects for development. The study was unique in that it also provided an opportunity for those students who could not attend the sessions to have a voice in what they would have liked to receive. Future sessions need advertising widely to increase uptake and make them a useful aspect to the student’s early experience and help reduce the level of attrition seen in the first semester of the programmes.

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