title: Registered nurses' reflections on bioscience courses during the undergraduate nursing programme: an exploratory study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore new graduate registered nurses' reflections of bioscience courses during their nursing programme and the relationship between bioscience content and their clinical practice.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Undergraduate nursing students internationally find bioscience courses challenging, which may be due to the volume of content and level of difficulty of these courses. Such challenges may be exacerbated by insufficient integration between bioscience theory and nursing clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive, cross-sectional mixed methods study was conducted.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 30-item questionnaire with five written response questions which explored recently registered nurses' reflections on bioscience courses during their nursing degree was employed. Descriptive analyses were reported for individual items. Thematic analysis of qualitative responses was grouped to reveal emerging themes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Registered nurses' (n = 22) reflections revealed that bioscience courses were a significant challenge during their undergraduate programme, and they lacked confidence explaining the biological basis of nursing. Participants would like improved knowledge of the relevant bioscience for nursing and agreed that bioscience courses should be extended into the undergraduate final year. The importance of relating bioscience content to nursing practice was elaborated extensively throughout written responses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although registered nurses reflected that bioscience courses were difficult with large volumes of content, having more bioscience with greater relevance to nursing applications was considered important in their current clinical practice. It is suggested that bioscience academics develop greater contextual links between bioscience content and clinical practice relevant to nursing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After working as a registered nurse, there was appreciation of bioscience relevance for clinical practice, and the nurses believed they would have benefitted from more nursing-related bioscience during their undergraduate programme. Focussed integration of bioscience with clinical nursing courses should be driven by academics, nurse educators and clinical nurses to provide a biological basis for patient care to nursing students.
authors: Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Caboolture, Qld, Australia.
authors: Judy A
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3998-5591
authors: JA
authors: Craft
authors: School of Curriculum, Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Qld, Australia.
authors: Peter B
authors: PB
authors: Hudson
authors: Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point, Qld, Australia.
authors: Mark B
authors: MB
authors: Plenderleith
authors: Sydney Nursing School, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
authors: Christopher J
authors: CJ
authors: Gordon
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001690:Biological Science Disciplines / Q000193:education*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: bioscience; clinical practice; nursing education; registered nurses; undergraduate courses