Promoting the use of nursing terminology & classification among nursing students - An action study

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Ayala Gonen

Ruppin Academic Center, Israel

: J Nurs Patient Care

Abstract

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Background: Nursing terminology classification enables us to express nursing knowledge in a manner that can be shared across disciplines and care settings. Nursing educators in Israel are committed to training students toward integrating and promoting the use of nursing terminology. This study displays the process of promoting the use of nursing terminology classification among nursing students. Objectives: To display the process of training nursing students toward integrating and promoting the use of nursing terminology, by using tools that were especially developed for this purpose: A pocket booklet and an intranet site. Methods: It is an action study. Two innovative tools were developed. The tools were distributed among nursing students, to be tested in their clinical practice. At the end of their clinical practice, fifty nursing students filled an evaluation questionnaire for both tools. Results: The pocket booklet was a successful tool; whereas, the intranet site was less successful. This result may be explained by the fact that there was not enough implementation and instruction of the tool and that the tool was not accessible to the student nurses on the wards, maybe due to epidemiological reasons such as infection hazards and the threat it may impose on patients' safety. Conclusions: This study can serve as an example of how nurses can lead changes in the nursing profession. The use of appropriate, useful, friendly and secured tools in nursing education can provide a more professional way of learning for the benefit of the nursing profession and the health customers.

Biography

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Dr. Ayala Gonen is a senior lecturer at the Nursing Department at Ruppin Academic Center in Israel. Ayala Gonen has her expertise in nursing informatics and her main fields of interest are: A. Understanding the behavior of nursing students, nurses and educators, concerning using Information Technology for the benefit of the nursing profession. The topic of Gonen’s PhD Dissertation was: “Registered Nurses’ Attitudes Towards Working with Computers” (2003). B. Researching personal and organizational behavior including cultural diversity.

E-mail: ayalago@ruppin.ac.il