Abstract
Background
Enrolled Nurses (EN) seeking to upgrade their qualification to degree-qualified Registered Nurses (RN) are typically enrolled directly into advanced science subjects including pathophysiology and pharmacology, with the assumption that these students have undertaken the requisite foundational content as part of their Vocational Education and Training diploma. However, many of these students have experienced an education gap after completing their program and/or because of working in specialist units such as mental health. The BioScience Essentials 2BRN website (http://www.bioscienceessentials2brn.com/) consists of modules designed to revise basic bioscience content including cell biology, the anatomy and physiology of each organ system, as well as introductory modules on pathophysiology and pharmacology. This poster reports on the completion of the site and the initial responses from student users.
Aim and Methods
The aim of the project was to create an evidence-based, open access web resource whereby BN students could assess the adequacy of prior learning in the foundational sciences and, where, once they identified gaps in their knowledge, they could find learning modules to “fill” these gaps.
The team (consisting of science educators drawn from nursing, health and science faculties of four Australian institutions and a web designer) collaboratively produced the components for each module that were a checklist of key concepts, a self-assessment quiz the actual content module and a revision quiz.
Results
Construction of the site was completed in 2017 and it has been promoted to Charles Sturt University students enrolled in Pathophysiology and Pharmacology 1. At this early stage, there has been no formal evaluation. Emailed comments from students were positive in which the site was described as helpful.
Conclusion
This collaboration between institutes has produced a resource that is now freely available to any students at any institutions. This year the site will promoted to another EN cohort at a metropolitan campus: the University of Technology Sydney. Academics from other institutions are encouraged to contact the team to examine website and subsequently support its wider use.
Acknowledgements
This study is a component of the Enrolled Nurse Transition project that was supported by a 2016 Office of Learning & Teaching (OLT) Seed Grant and CSU Faculty of Science grant.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 29 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
| Event | STARS 2018 Students Transitions Achievement Retention and Success - Skycity Convention Centre, Auckland, New Zealand Duration: 08 Jul 2018 → 11 Jul 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180517170632/http://unistars.org/ (Conference website) http://unistars.org/papers/STARS2018.pdf |
Conference
| Conference | STARS 2018 Students Transitions Achievement Retention and Success |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | New Zealand |
| City | Auckland |
| Period | 08/07/18 → 11/07/18 |
| Other | This conference provides the opportunity to disseminate and discuss current research, good practice, emerging initiatives and leading edge ideas that are aimed at enhancing students’ tertiary learning experiences. Discussion on a wide variety of subjects is encouraged and focuses on the following topics: - Students – who are they, what are their needs, what works for different cohorts, strategies for broader social inclusion and increasing participation in tertiary education, participation of first nation peoples - Transitions – pathways to tertiary education, transitions into (the first year experience) during (work integrated learning) and from tertiary education including graduate employability, and capstone experiences - Achievement – strategies promoting student achievement including curricular and co-curricular reform, employability, gamification and simulation enhanced learning - Retention – program, discipline, whole of institution, inter-institutional and sector collaborations designed to improve student retention, threshold skills and concepts - Success – student engagement, technology enhanced learning, understanding students expectations and realities, psychological wellbeing, application of learning analytics |
| Internet address |