Investigating Statistical Preparedness of Nursing Graduates for the Workplace

• Activity Number: 600
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 2, 2012 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Consulting
• Author(s): MyoungJin Kim*+
• Companies: Illinois State University
• Keywords: statistics education ; workplace demands ; nurse graduates

Abstract

Statistics education at the university should prepare nurse graduates with a master's degree for how to apply education to their practice. Graduates should be able to read and critique published research, and make practice decisions. However, graduates may not be prepared to meet all demands by the workplace and required to get further education to meet specific demands. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not university education has prepared nursing graduates to understand and appropriately use statistics in the workplace. The convenience sample (n=34) was obtained from graduates with a master's degree in nursing at a Midwestern university between 2000 and 2008. Information on graduates' statistics course experience and its use in the workplace was explored. The findings suggest that gaps exist between statistical training at the university and workplace demands. The identified needs include the use of Excel and Access as data management and analysis tools and the inclusion of forecasting and quality control as topics. Questions for better preparing nursing students in master's programs for the workplace are raised.