title: Senior student nurses information seeking skills: a comparative study.
abstract: Information seeking is one of the key skills in the problem-solving process. This paper explores and compares the information seeking skills of senior student nurses (n = 253) from three pre-registration nurse education programmes: Registered General Nurse (RGN); diploma Registered Nurse (Diploma RN); and integrated degree. Skills were explored using a paper and pencil simulation exercise. Study findings revealed both similarities and differences between the groups. Few students displayed a holistic approach when acquiring information and the rationale for information requests was cited infrequently. The integrated degree programme participants displayed a more systematic approach to information acquisition, while more RGN programme participants referred to the use of a model. The most favoured model to aid data acquisition was Roper et al.'s [The Elements of Nursing, third ed., Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1996] Activities of Living Model. The study findings are discussed in the wider context of professional education and practice and the potential for further development of information seeking skills on pre-registration nurse education programmes is noted.
authors.affiliation: Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College, James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA, UK. julia.roberts@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D004506:Education, Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D011340:Problem Solving; D006113:United Kingdom