A key expectation from the healthcare industry in Australia is that nurses engaged in postgraduate specialist education need to be able to apply their extended knowledge and skills to the workplace. For this to succeed, health services need to be involved in the development of course content and learning outcomes to ensure authentic engagement. Essential to this is student participation in workplace learning that provides experience, performance feedback and reflection. This promotes graduate success to meet industry expectations.
Work Integrated Learning
The term ‘work integrated learning’ describes the collaboration between higher education institutions with industry to provide workplace learning. Workplace learning supports the application of theory to practice which develops the essential skills, experience and an understanding of the ‘real’ world of the chosen profession(Drysdale, McBeath, Johansson, Dressler, & Zaitseva, 2016; Johnston & Bishop, 2012). For the purpose of this paper, the term is used in the perioperative nursing context to describe the intersection of the Graduate Diploma of Perioperative Nursing curriculum with the health services’ perioperative specialty
The Graduate Diploma of Perioperative Nursing aimed to develop graduates with not only the knowledge of good perioperative nursing practice but also the skills. To achieve this the course is provided in collaboration with both public and private healthcare sites within Western Australia (n=12). The 12-month clinically intensive course provides a combination of academic learning and assessment in conjunction with clinical rotations over a 12-month period (Russell & Coventry, 2016).
A variety of evaluations has demonstrated the positive impact of the course. This includes the University teaching and unit content evaluations, Australian Graduate Course Experience Questionnaire Survey (CEQ) by Graduate Careers Australia and the School of Nursing and Midwifery (independent) Course Review. These evaluations indicate that the perioperative course is well received by health services, educators and students. Further research to confirm these results was required to validate the impact of the course on nursing performance, retention and the value of work-integrated learning within postgraduate nursing education (Russell & Coventry, 2016).
Methods:
The aim of this program evaluation was to determine the impact of the Graduate Diploma of Perioperative Nursing on student learning and career progression.
Research Question
The program evaluation will seek to determine if students of the Graduate Diploma of Perioperative Nursing (previous 5 years) perceive that the program:
- has impacted on the their knowledge and skill as a perioperative nurse
- has supported them in their career development as a perioperative nurse
Method
A convenience sample of Graduated students (previous 5 years) of the Graduate Diploma of Perioperative Nursing were asked to participate in the online survey (n=67). The researchers aim was to achieve a return rate of 35% acknowledging that graduates may not have updated their contact details with the University. To support recruitment, a snowballing technique was also adopted. Participants were asked to forward the survey details, or researcher’s details, to former graduates that they may be working with them in the perioperative environment.
Graduates of the 2017 program (N= 12) were additionally asked to participate in a focus group. This provided an opportunity to explore the themes of the survey. One focus groups occurred with 11 participants.
Results:
Survey data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data was examined to identify emergent ideas and themes. NVivo 11 was used to manage the data, ideas and create visual representations that will be used to demonstrate relationships and report on data results. Findings of the data highlighted that participants enjoyed the course, and found value in working in the clinical environment whilst undertaking academic studies. Support of the onsite educators consolidated learning and feedback in real time. Many of the participants believed that as a result of the course they had been able to fulfill their career ambitions, either in clinical nurse roles, staff development educator roles, or as a clinical academic. Undertaking a course supported by the university and health service reduced feelings of academic stress, improved support, and ensure learning was authentic.
Conclusion:
Within nursing education and industry there has, and remains, ongoing discussion and concern about the practice–theory gap in undergraduate and other entry to practice programs. These same concerns translate to the postgraduate environment where programs with a clinical association cannot validate clinical and professional competence in their learning outcomes without student engagement in the clinical environment. Maintaining support from industry to continue to support the GDPN requires evidence of the program’s success and its impact on the workplace. With economic cutbacks across healthcare in Western Australia a number of hospital based and university, embedded programs have been cancelled or reduced in student intake. Health services are seeking evidence of impact of these programs before they will commit supporting staff. Whilst no such request has as yet been made in reference to the GDPN, this program evaluation will aim to provide to provide evidence of workplace impact so that health services remain committed to the program.
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