NurseOne
Canadian Nurses Association (NurseONE) and the College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, propose to evaluate the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and NurseONE by students enrolled in the Nursing Education Program of Saskatchewan (NEPS) and, specifically, in the nursing course (NEPS 417: Issues in Nursing) at the Regina site. The researchers will evaluate the use of NurseONE by students enrolled initially in the fall of 2007 and winter 2008 semesters over a period of three years for each selected group (2007-2011) as students transition from the undergraduate role to a beginning practitioner role in their clinical practice. The influence of students on their preceptors’ use of technology will also be evaluated through the delivery of focus groups and feedback from both students and preceptors. The project will monitor the use of technology by students as they transition from student to beginning practitioner roles.
The Canadian Nurses Association’s portal, NurseONE, is a personalized, interactive web-based resource that provides nurses across Canada with a gateway through which they can access resources to help them better care for their clients/patients, manage their careers, pursue life-long learning opportunities, and connect to colleagues. NurseONE provides access to credible evidence-based resources for better-informed decision-making. As students transition into a professional role after graduation, they may have limited access to many electronic resources that were readily available to them through their academic programs and libraries. Those resources will be made available to nursing students through NurseONE during the research project.
Project Objectives:
The intended outcomes of this research are to evaluate the use of technology by students who transition to beginning practitioners and their influence on preceptors in the clinical environments. Results will be generated through and from the research process. The specific objectives for this longitudinal research project are as follows:
1. To explore the appropriation or uptake of information from NurseONE and ICT in the nursing students’ learning / practice;
2. To determine the appropriateness of NurseONE and ICT in the students’ academic environment and beginning practitioners’ clinical practice;
3. To assess the extent to which nursing students and beginning practitioners influence preceptors in the use of NurseONE and ICT; and
4. To explore the potential use of NurseONE and ICT in the academic and clinical environments.
Research Questions:
The corresponding research questions are as follows:
1. What is the extent of appropriation of information from NurseONE and ICT in the students’ learning and practice?
2. How does NurseONE and ICTs influence the beginning practitioners’ clinical practice?
3. To what extent can nursing students and beginning practitioners influence the practice of preceptors regarding use of technology and ICT?
4. To what extent will beginning practitioners use NurseONE and ICTs in the two years following graduation from the educational program? What opportunities regarding utilization and integration are identified by students, beginning practitioners, and preceptors?