THE USE OF STRUCTURED OVERVIEWS TO IMPROVE RETENTION OF PHARMACOLOGY CONTENT BY NURSING STUDENTS.

Description

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the inclusion of a structured overview with material from an existing pharmacology handbook for nurses would improve retention of pharmacology content by nursing students. A post-test-only repeated measures design was used. Subjects studied information about two drugs, phenytoin (Dilantin) and chlorpromazine (Thorazine), one drug in the experimental format and one drug in the control format. The design was counter-balanced to rule out the effects of order or drug. The treatment format used an existing drug monograph plus a one-page structured overview. The structured overview summarized key pharmacology content found in the monograph, and used arrows, shading, and changes in type size to emphasize relationships between drug action, effect, and nursing interventions not explicitly noted on the drug monograph. The control format presented the monograph for the second drug, plus a factually correct, one-page table containing different information than the structured overview. Knowledge was measured by two investigator-devised, multiple-choice tests, an immediate recall and a retention test, for each drug. Validity was determined through review of items and test objectives by nurses and pharmacologists. The study was pilot-tested twice. Subjects were 48 junior and 39 senior students in a BSN program in a southeastern university. The hypothesis was tested using Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Analysis was done on subscale M scores (items which could be answered through study of monograph only); subscale B scores (items which could be answered through study of monograph or structured overview); and total test scores for each drug. Main effects were presentation order, treatment and time (immediate recall or retention). The hypothesis that structured overviews enhance learning was not supported. Usually, students had a significant drop in scores from Time 1 to Time 2. However, for Thorazine, percentage scores increased from Time 1 to Time 2 on subscale B scores (p $<$ 0.0137). Order of presentation was significant for juniors for the drug Thorazine for B scores and M-B scores. Treatment by time interaction was significant for the combined group, Dilantin subscale B percentage scores (p $<$ 0.0453).

Subjects