Effects of a Nursing Practicum Preparation Program on the Level of 21st Century Skills among Nursing Students

Abstract

This quasi-experimental one group pretest-posttest design aimed to measure the effects of a nursing practicum preparation program on the level of 21^st century skills in nursing students. Namely, those skills are reading, writing, arithmetic, critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, cross-cultural understanding, collaboration teamwork and leadership, communications information and media literacy, computing and ICT literacy, as well as career and learning. The sample consisted of 93 Second-Year nursing students from Surin’s Boromarajonani College of Nursing. The research instruments consisted in the nursing practicum preparation program and a questionnaire on 21^st century skills. The program comprised a variety of learning activities such as group discussions, practice in real situations, return demonstration, research-based learning, mindfulness, case study analysis, nursing care planning, and reflection. Activities and data collection were performed during January and February 2018. Descriptive and inferential statistic paired t-test were applied to analyze data. Results were as follows.

After participating the nursing practicum preparation program, nursing students had a significantly higher average score of twenty first century skills than before (t=18.61, p<0.001). After joining the program, the average score for the twenty first century skills was significantly higher than before joining the program (p<0.001).

Therefore, preparation activities should be conducted before practical training using a variety of learning activities.