title: An analysis of alumni performance: A study of the quality of nursing education.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The professional performance level of their alumni is one of the quality indicators of educational institutions. Nursing education institutions can use their alumni's performance analysis results to enhance their curricula, eliminate deficiencies, improve the quality of education and graduate more highly qualified nurses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This is a descriptive, cross-sectional and comparative study, which aimed to determine the professional performances of nurses who graduated from the same nursing faculty.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study sample included alumni of Turkey's first nursing faculty, part of the nation's first public university in Istanbul, and their administrative supervisors. The study data were collected using the self-assessment forms of 314 alumni who worked as bedside nurses in 36 Istanbul hospitals, and 314 evaluations by the 195 nurse managers who supervised them. The study's response rate was 82.6%. To collect the study data, the researchers created a performance evaluation form based on the relevant literature. The same form was administered both to the nurse managers and the alumni. The researchers obtained ethical board approval and official permissions from the relevant hospitals to conduct the study. The study data were analyzed by a statistics expert.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to the study results, the alumni's perceptions of themselves as well as the nurse managers' perceptions of the alumni were different from those of the other nurses with undergraduate degrees in terms of professional knowledge, expectations and ideals. The performance evaluation results showed that the alumni evaluated themselves more positively than their managers did. It was determined that there were highly significant differences (p=0.000) between the values provided by the five sub-dimensions of the scale and the total scale. In addition, the performance level was low in the sub-dimension focusing on research, and there was a significant difference in this sub-dimension (p=0.040).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study found that the alumni mainly had better evaluations of their own performances than their nurse managers, and that the research skills of the alumni should be enhanced.
authors.affiliation: Atatürk University Faculty of Health Sciences, Nursing Management Department, Erzurum, Turkey. Electronic address: serap342002@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Serap
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Altuntaş
authors.affiliation: Istanbul University Florence Nightingale Nursing Faculty, Nursing Management Department, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: ulkubay@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ülkü
authors.initials: Ü
authors.lastname: Baykal
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D057566:Self Report; D014421:Turkey; D000066477:Work Performance / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Alumni performance; Nursing; Performance evaluation; Quality in education