Performance of Nurse Learners in the Operating room after Clinical Skills Laboratory

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the level of performance of Level III and IV nurse learners of Benguet State University in the operating room after clinical skills laboratory. Specifically, the study sought to determine if the level of performance of nurse learners in the operating room exposure is higher than their performance in the perioperative didactics, if the level of performance of the nurse learners differ significantly when grouped according to sex and year level and lastly, if there is a significant relationship between the perioperative didactics and operating room exposure. The study was conducted at the Benguet State University- College of Nursing, La Trinidad, Benguet on January to March 2016. The population comprised all level III and IV nurse learners enrolled for the 2nd semester SY 2015- 2016. Quantitative descriptive research method was used with the questionnaire as the data gathering instrument. Furthermore, data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for Window version 20 and descriptive statistics appropriate to the level of measurement was used to describe the study variables. Lastly, statistical analysis was done using weighted mean, t-test, and Pearson Product Moment. Based on the results, the performance of Benguet State University nurse learners in the operating room exposure is higher than the preoperative didactics in the operative phase. However, there are no differences in their performance in the preoperative and post-operative phase. Second, Benguet State University nurse learners have same level of performance of the nurse learners in the perioperative didactics, the higher their performance in the operating room exposure. Hence, the use of perioperative didactics via clinical skills laboratory is effective in improving the performance of the nurse learners. This facilitate the development of “real” practice in clinical placements, allows nurse learners to practice skills without fear of harming patients, facilities formative and summative assessment and to potentially enhance the teacher’s credibility. It is concluded that the nurse learners’ performance in the intra-operative phase of the operating room exposure is higher compared to their performance in the perioperative didactics. The post-operative phase id somewhat a neglected area during the nurse learners’ perioperative didactics and operating room exposure. The performance of nurse learners in the perioperative didactics and operating room exposure in terms of sex is the same. As more experience is gained and/ or clinical rotations increase in the operating room, the level of performance of the nurse learner also increases. The perioperative didactics influence the nurse learners’ performance in the operating room exposure. Based on the findings, it is recommended that in a perioperative didactics, clinical instructors must also take account the skills needed in the pre-operative didactics, clinical instructors must also take into account the skills needed in the pre-operative and post-operative phase so that the nurse learners will be knowledgeable of their duties and responsibilities in these phases. Proper learning facilities to the students and student performance should be improved by the college administration to come up with an environment that is comparable to the actual operating room field. The college administration should also include a teaching manual to be used in the operating room field. The college administration should also include a teaching manual to be used in the operating room didactics. Further studies on the effectiveness of clinical skills didactics done by the nurse learners. Furthermore, future studies on the effectiveness of clinical skills didactics done by nurse learners. Furthermore, future studies must look into the number of male and female nurse learners as the stud was dominated by female nurse learners.