Bridging the Gap: Use of Educational Gaming to Teach Acid-Base Imbalance Interpretation in Nursing Students.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between an acid-base imbalance educational gaming activity and subsequent performance on a course examination on the subject. METHOD: A nonexperimental descriptive design was employed using retrospective data obtained from both College of Nursing internal records and the learning management system used by the nursing program. A total of 435 students in the intervention group and 409 in the control group were included in the study. RESULTS: Differences in mean (SD) scores between the 2 groups for the acid-base content questions on the course examination were statistically significant (intervention group, 16.64 [1.92]; control group, 16.03 [1.62]; t842 = 2.34, P = .019). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that using educational gaming may improve retention and application of nursing knowledge.

More than a cultural experience: Assessing the impact of a medical-surgical international clinical on nursing students' academic performance.

A review of the extant literature suggests that there remains a dearth of evidence regarding the evaluation of well-defined outcomes related to international nursing clinical experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between students' clinical experience (traditional versus international) and a number of academic outcomes including final medical-surgical course grades, performance on relevant Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) proctored exams, and National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) pass rates. A non-experimental design was implemented using retrospective data obtained from a small university in the Midwest. Students complete a medical-surgical clinical in India during the interim of their third semester in the nursing program. Results of the t-tests show a statistically significant difference in final grades for Adult Health II theory when comparing students who completed a traditional clinical (M = 83.1, SD = 3.8) with those who completed an international clinical (M = 81.6, SD = 5.2); t(100) = 2.0, p = .043. The difference in mean scores for traditional clinical students (M = 70.3, SD = 6.6) versus international clinical students (M = 66.2, SD = 7.2) for the Adult Medical-Surgical proctored exam reached statistical significance, t(119) = 4.5, p ≤ .001. In contrast, there was no significant difference in means scores between the two groups with regard to scores on the Comprehensive Predictor proctored exam (traditional clinical, M = 76.1, SD = 5.9; international clinical, M = 75.2, SD = 6.4); t(121) = 1.0, p = .316. Finally, a chi square test of independence found that the relationship between clinical status and performance on NCLEX was not statistically significant, χ2 (1, N = 197) = 0.132, p = .716. Further research is needed to examine the impact of international clinicals on a broader range of outcomes including academic, cultural competency, and clinical performance measures.

Life at the Margins: Marginality and Race in Undergraduate Students and Faculty.

The United States has become increasingly diverse, but this same rise in diversity is not reflected in the nursing profession. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between marginality and minority status for nursing students in two states with very different racial/ethnic minority profiles. Marginality was measured using the Koci Marginality Index. When comparing students by geographical region, there were statistically significant differences between the two groups with regard to the marginality subconcepts of intermediacy, differentiation, power, secrecy, voice, liminality, and reflectiveness. Data were also collected from nurse faculty at each of the universities in Texas and Wisconsin. Findings suggest that there are significant differences between the two faculty samples with regard to advising, tutoring, and mentoring activities, as well as referral of minority students to campus resources. Marginalization is a complicated, deeply entrenched issue that continues to significantly impact minority nursing students across the nation.