J Nurs Educ
-
The results of this investigation indicate that nurses enrolling in nursing master's degree programs are motivated to do so for reasons related to professional achievement and increasing their knowledge base. Many of the respondents indicated the desire to seek positions that reflect the more advanced practice roles in nursing, such as clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, or nurse educator, upon completion of the degree. This is significant when considering that the investigation was conducted during a serious nursing shortage when much emphasis was placed on the recruitment and retention of staff nurses to work at the bedside (Fenner, 1987). ⋯ The seven motivational orientations underlying the reasons for returning to school should be considered when evaluating the ability of their programs to meet the needs and goals of their applicants. This might be accomplished by the exploration of the applicants' reasons for returning to school as well as their professional goals upon completion of the degree during the application process. An exit interview done on completion of the degree requirements could also be performed to determine if the program met the needs of the student.
-
The nursing shortage has been addressed at multiple levels in both the private and public sectors. This article offers an overview of the federal and organizational responses and an analysis of the implications for nursing education. Several initiatives being used by various schools of nursing to enhance their regional response are presented. In addition, the author also offers several recommendations designed to ensure that nursing education remains in a leadership position in the designing and implementation of initiatives that influence our outcomes.
-
Nursing demands competency in numerous psychomotor skills. Using theory from Paivio (1986), Anderson (1976, 1985), and Bandura (1986), this attribute-treatment study explored the interactive effects of imagery skills and various combinations of physical and mental practice on learning a skill. The author assessed 108 nursing students for imagery abilities and randomly assigned them to a physical practice (PP), mental rehearsal (MR), or a combined mental rehearsal plus physical practice (MR + PP) group. ⋯ Subjects in the MR+PP condition performed significantly better than subjects in the MR condition but not the PP condition. These findings have important implications. Incorporating the use of mental rehearsal as an adjunct to physical practice in an effort to facilitate skill acquisition was found to be beneficial.