Differentiating nursing process performance by education, experience, domain-specific knowledge, strategic knowledge and self-efficacy.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the nursing process as used by different groups of nurses and, in so doing, to develop an approach to studying how and why these nurses vary in its use. The theoretical framework was the developing body of cognitive psychology research on problem solving. The design for this study was cross-sectional. Three instruments, Nursing Process Questionnaire, Medical-Surgical Nursing Knowledge Questions, and a Nursing Process Computer Simulation were used. The sample of 72 subjects were from two programs, LPN Completion and Basic, in a midwest, metropolitan, private, liberal arts Catholic college. The first research question concerned differences in conceptualization of the nursing process. The findings indicated there were no significant differences in subjects' conceptualization of the nursing process, regardless of educational preparation or nursing work experience. The second and third research questions explored relationships between social demographic variables of educational preparation and nursing work experience, and medical-surgical knowledge, strategic knowledge and self-efficacy as well as the relative effect of these variables on subjects' performance on a computer based nursing process task. The findings were that self-efficacy and nursing process performance and self-efficacy and strategic knowledge were positively correlated. A significant inverse relationship was also found between years of work experience and nurses' performance on the simulation. Self-efficacy contributed significantly in determining nursing process performance. The following conclusions were drawn from the findings: Educational preparation and amount of nursing work experience do not have a significant effect on nursing process performance or conceptualization of that process. Self-efficacy was the only variable that had a significant effect on nursing process performance, a finding which should prompt more research on the effects of self-efficacy.