Nursing students' personal qualities: A descriptive study☆
Introduction
The Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry was undertaken to investigate “appalling” care provided in a major hospital in Stafford, England (Francis, 2013, p. 3). Two hundred and ninety recommendations were made as a result of this inquiry. One strategy proposed to engender compassionate care in Stafford was to recruit nurses with values, attitudes and behaviours that reflect a compassionate approach to care (Francis, 2013). Poor care is not exclusive to Stafford, with reports of poor care in other areas of the United Kingdom (UK) (Fielding et al., 2010) and Australia (Egan, 2013). Along with this, literature continues to identify the presence of nursing students who demonstrate unprofessional attitudes and behaviours (Duffy, 2003, Luhanga et al., 2008). Many consider that selection criteria could be modified so as to recruit students who possess the personal qualities desired in a registered nurse and improve students' academic and clinical performance (Perkins et al., 2013, Pitt et al., 2014, Wolf, 2012).
Section snippets
Background
It is acknowledged that nurses require academic knowledge, the cognitive skills with which to apply that knowledge and a range of non-academic personal qualities (Catlett and Lovan, 2011, Wolf, 2012). Deficiencies in the latter may contribute substantially to unprofessional and unethical behaviours that have the potential to harm patients (Francis, 2013, Wolf, 2012). Unprofessional behaviours include a lack of empathy and compassion (Karlsson et al., 2004) and extend to sexual abuse (Bachmann
Aim
The aim of this study was to provide a description of the personal qualities of a sample of Australian nursing students commencing a three year Bachelor of Nursing (BN) programme; identify significant differences in personal qualities in relation to age and gender and investigate the stability of these personal qualities over time.
Method
This descriptive study forms part of a larger longitudinal descriptive correlational study using convenience sampling which examined the factors impacting on nursing students' clinical and academic performance and progression. This study used a descriptive design to explore the personal qualities of a sample of BN students from one Australian university where selection was based solely on prior academic performance. Following ethics approval from the University's Human Research Ethics Committee
Results
From a population of 517 students entering their first year of the BN, 139 consented to participate. Although only one quarter (26.8%) of the population of students was recruited the sample reflected the gender and age distribution of the BN population as a whole. Of the 139 participants most were female (86%), with a mean age of 27 years (range 18–53); the 517 students enrolled in year 1 of the BN in 2009 had similar age (mean 27.8 years) and gender (87.6% female) distribution.
Of the 139
Discussion
The recent Mid-Staffordshire inquiry (Francis, 2013) recommended that individuals recruited into nursing programmes should be in “possession of the appropriate values, attitudes and behaviours” (p. 1539) required for the delivery of competent and compassionate care. Yet, at present, no quantitative tool exists to provide schools of nursing with a description of the personal qualities of current nursing students and whether those qualities change after progressing through pre-registration
Study Limitations
Limitations of this study include the use of convenience sampling resulting in a small sample. A well-known consequence of convenience sampling is the use of volunteers and the difficulty in obtaining sufficient numbers (Schneider et al., 2003). Some students reported an interest in the research but highlighted that study commitments, feeling overwhelmed by commencing university and the length of time to complete the survey (2 h) as reasons for preventing them from consenting to participate. The
Conclusion
Nursing students need to possess the personal qualities that are reflective of a safe and compassionate nursing professional. Utilising a battery of personal qualities measures most of the study sample was found to possess mid-range personal quality trait scores, but approximately a quarter of the students entered the Bachelor of Nursing programme with extreme scores in one or other traits measured by PQA. This sample was found to be broadly comparable to another nursing sample, though was more
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Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.