ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Curriculum is an important component of nurse education and is thought to vary from country to country. AIM: To determine the level of cardiac knowledge in Greek and English final-year student nurses. METHOD: Subjects were final-year diploma and degree student nurses (n = 161) from Greece and England. Pictographs (testing knowledge in a pictorial form) were used as a method of data collection. Three anatomical cardiac diagrams were used. Students were asked to label 20 anatomical parts. RESULTS: Final-year English student nurses have better knowledge in the discrete area of cardiac anatomy and physiology (P < 0.05) than their Greek counterparts. Problems associated with translation and interpretation were avoided using pictographs and were shown to be useful measures for determining knowledge in nurses from different countries. CONCLUSION: The findings of the study are important because they show differences in anatomical knowledge levels between Greek and English students. More research is needed to explore further different levels of knowledge and education within the European Union and the consequences for nurse decision-making and patient outcomes.
Subject(s)
Anatomy/education , Curriculum/standards , Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate/standards , Education, Nursing, Diploma Programs/standards , Heart , Physiology/education , Adult , Cultural Diversity , Educational Measurement , Electrocardiography/nursing , England , Female , Greece , Heart/anatomy & histology , Heart/physiology , Humans , Male , Needs Assessment , Nursing Education Research , Program Evaluation , School Admission Criteria , Students, Nursing , Teaching/methods , Teaching/standardsABSTRACT
Clinical decision-making is an integral component of the role of the professional nurse. The aim of the study was to identify the quality of decision making of Greek and English coronary care nurses during the acute and recovery phases post-myocardial infarction (MI), and determine factors that best predict clinical decision-making in these two discrete groups of nurses. By identifying best practice from standard textbooks and expert practitioners, Clinical Decision-Making cards were developed and employed to explore nurse decision-making. A questionnaire (influencing factor questionnaire-IFQ) was also administered to determine which factors predicted quality nurse decision-making in the acute and recovery phase of post-MI patient care. The results showed that nurses in England made better quality clinical decisions in the recovery phase of MI than the Greek counterparts (p<0.001). Variables were identified which best-predicted decision-making. Interestingly, the main finding of this study was that English nurses had greater autonomy in the recovery phase and therefore made more clinical decisions concerning the patient psychosocial recovery than Greek nurses. Nurses perceived clinical experience as the strongest factor influencing decision-making.
