‘The buck stops here’: accepting responsibility for learning and actions after graduation from a problem‐based learning nursing education curriculum

Abstract

Despite the increased attention that problem-based learning has received as an appropriate pedagogical technique for educating adults for professional practice, reports that evaluate the process are rare and usually relate to professions other than nursing. A study was undertaken in order to discover the graduates' own perceptions of a problem-based learning programme and its effectiveness in preparing them for the reality of their chosen profession. Twelve practising graduate nurses who had completed the programme were interviewed according to the ethnographic method. Three categories were identified from the data: 'and all of a sudden...', which describes the transition from PBL student to staff nurse; 'not an unthinking assistant', where the characteristics that the PBL graduates believe make them different from traditionally trained nurses are described; and 'the buck stops here', which describes the sense of personal responsibility that the graduates experience in terms of their learning and actions.

Students’ views of enquiry-based learning in a continuing professional development module

“…Other evidence in favour of EBL/PBL comes from under-graduate and post-graduate level nurse education research in Australia and Canada (MoralesMann & Kaitell, 2001;Blackford & Street, 1999;Peterson et al, 1999;Williams, 1999;Cooke & Donovan, 1998;Alavi et al, 1997;Creedy & Hand, 1994). There is some research concerning pre-and post-registration education which has been carried out in the UK (Andrews & Jones, 1996;Biley & Smith, 1998). A detailed study of PBL, together with a review of the literature, was published by Newman (2004).…”

“…'Uneven group participation' has been identified as an issue in EBL/PBL (Biley & Smith, 1998;O'Hanlon et al, 1995) and has been charged with causing poor group dynamics if not managed appropriately. There is debate among the participants in this study, with regard to where the responsibility for handling such issues lies, i.e.…”

Compassion in practice—Evaluating the awareness, involvement and perceived impact of a national nursing and midwifery strategy amongst healthcare professionals in NHS Trusts in England

“…The ensuing cynicism may partly shape staff expectation that managers will be proactive in disseminating changes to working practices. It reflects a wider issue in UK nursing regarding nurses’ taking responsibility for their own learning, including keeping abreast of strategic change, all of which are historically evident professional characteristics identified within the global nursing literature (Biley & Smith, ). This may explain the low awareness of CiPVS reported amongst ward level staff while at the same time, recognition of specific elements of the strategy, such as the 6Cs.…”

Prince Edward Island: Building Capacity – The Implementation of a Critical Care/Emergency Program

“…Within the workplace, new nurses often did not comment about these aspects of control, but rather about the control they had over patient care. Responsibility and accountability for patients was a frequent theme in the literature focused on new nurses (Amos, 2001;Biley & Smith, 1998;Ellerton & Gregor, 2003). This aspect of control was not captured in the measure and is not well-captured in Karasek"s (1979) conceptualization of control.…”