Gathering appropriate patient information is essential for effective nursing practice. However, nursing students (NSs) feel highly anxious during their first clinical rotation due to limited clinical experience, knowledge, and pressure to perform (Baksi et al., 2017; Bayoumi et al., 2012; Sun et al., 2016; Chernomas et al., 2013; Kleehammer et al., 1990), therefore attaining patient information may be difficult. The knowledge on how well novice NSs obtain patient information is very limited. Our previous report indicated that more novice NSs obtained essential patient information over time but the increase was not consistent. Based on the findings, a simplified patient data collection sheet, “brain,” was introduced to NSs. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using the brain on NSs’ ability of obtaining patient information.
Methods:
Twenty nine NSs in their first clinical rotation of a BSN program were divided into three groups with one clinical instructor per group. These groups were placed on different units in an urban community hospital. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was used to assess NSs’ anxiety levels in the morning and at the end of the same clinical day patient information that NSs obtained was assessed. Data were collected at the beginning, mid-semester and on the last clinical day. Paired T test was used for the anxiety analysis and descriptive statistics was used for the patient information comparisons.
Results:
Anxiety levels of novice NSs dropped significantly and consistently throughout the clinical rotation as previously reported (P<0.01 between three assessment points). On the first clinical day, 39.5% of students obtained essential patient information, then 71.4% by mid-semester and 79.8% by the end of the semester. Among the essential information, early AM lab results were obtained by 26.6%, then 67.8% and 96% at the end. Pain levels were obtained by 46.6%, 67.8% and 76%. Compared to the previous study, a larger percentage of NSs obtained essential information at the end of semester (64% in the previous study without using the brain to 79.8% with the brain).
Conclusion:
The study was conducted to investigate the effect of using the brain on obtaining essential patient information among novice NSs, in addition to reassessing their anxiety levels. The same trend of reduction was seen in the anxiety levels in the current study as in the previous reports. With the use of the brain, higher percentages of novice NSs obtained essential patient information than in our previous report. One critical note is that the importance of obtaining patient information was emphasized frequently to the NSs and the clinical instructors were repeatedly reminded by the researcher to encourage NSs to use the brain. These multiple steps of education (for students and for the instructors) may be a key for the increased percentages of NSs who obtained information. Based on the findings, the brain will be implemented in the routine preparation for novice NSs’ clinical rotation in our program to improve their clinical learning outcomes.