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Nursing - PhD/ MSc by Research

Annual tuition fee for 2024/25: UK: £4,778 International: £21,360

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Our Nursing PhD/MSc by Research will provide you with the skills necessary to conduct research that advances nursing science and contributes to the advancement of high quality evidence-based care.

You will have the opportunity to work with leading researchers to produce original globally significant research. The experience will prepare the nurse leaders of tomorrow with the skills and expertise necessary to advance the science and practice of nursing with the aim of improving patient-centred care in a constantly changing healthcare environment.

Our PhD/MSc by Research program will provide you with high quality research training to enable you to conduct independent investigative research. You will work closely with your supervisory team who will help you clarify your project and support your development. Your thesis will represent an original contribution to knowledge and demonstrate independent judgement.

Why study this course?

When you join your programme you will become part of the Graduate School within the College of Medical and Dental Sciences  giving you access to:

• Supervision from leading academics to support you through your research programme including research techniques and training.
• Training and development courses to enable you to gain research and generic (transferable) training skills
• Opportunities to attend and take part in Research Poster festivals and other postgraduate activities to boost your academic and networking skills
• An allocated academic mentor so you can access pastoral support
• State-of-the art facilities to support a range of teaching, learning and research activity with access to dedicated write up rooms, libraries, and computer facilities.

You will also become part of the wider University of Birmingham postgraduate research community located at Westmere House where you have access to training and skills development, careers and employability advice, wellbeing and counselling services as well as welcome activities and events.

Ask a student mentor

The best people to ask about postgraduate study are the students that have done it. Our mentor scheme enables you to directly contact student mentors with any questions that you have about studying here and will offer help and advice from a student perspective. Please feel free to contact the mentors directly using the question box on their profile page.

UK: £4,778 full-time, £2,389 part-time International: £21,360 full-time, £10,680 part-time

The above fees are for one year only. If you are studying over two or more years, tuition fees will also be payable in subsequent years.

Find out about our latest vacancies and scholarship opportunities by searching our  Doctoral Researcher Database .

We welcome enquiries from students who have obtained funding and self-funded students looking to conduct research in other areas and encourage prospective doctoral students to  contact our staff  to discuss their intended area of study. 

To search for postgraduate research funding opportunities to support your studies at the University of Birmingham use our funding database .

How To Apply

Before you make your application.

When submitting an application for any postgraduate programme, you are also required to submit supporting documentation to accompany your application form. To give your application the best chance of success follow our  step-by-step guide .

Making your application

If you have got everything ready to apply then please go to the Apply Now button at the top of this page. We look forward to receiving your application.

International applicants

We encourage you to apply early, so that you have plenty of time to prepare the necessary travel, study and immigration documents. In some cases, it may be a time-consuming process. You will find further information and guidance for prospective students regarding visas and immigration on our Student Help pages.

After you have submitted your application

Once you've completed your online application and submitted it electronically, it will be checked by staff in the Postgraduate Admissions team before being sent to the College of Medical and Dental Sciences for consideration. Selection processes differ depending on the type of application you have made.

If you need any help with you application or have any further queries please contact us:

Email: [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 5005

You may wish to register your interest with us to receive regular news and updates on postgraduate life within this Department and the wider University.

• How to apply

To apply for a postgraduate research programme, you will need to submit your application and supporting documents online. We have put together some helpful information on the research programme application process and supporting documents on our how to apply page . Please read this information carefully before completing your application.

Our Standard Requirements

Applicants should have a strong background in a relevant subject. They should hold or expect to obtain at least an Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a health related area. If you are applying for a PhD then you will usually also need to hold a Masters qualification at Merit level.

International Requirements

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 14/20 from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of the Licenciado or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Argentinian university, with a promedio of at least 7.5, may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Applicants for PhD degrees will normally have a Maestria or equivalent

Applicants who hold a Masters degree will be considered for admission to PhD study.

Holders of a good four-year Diplomstudium/Magister or a Masters degree from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 2.5 will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students with a good 5-year Specialist Diploma or 4-year Bachelor degree from a recognised higher education institution in Azerbaijan, with a minimum GPA of 4/5 or 80% will be considered for entry to postgraduate taught programmes at the University of Birmingham.

For postgraduate research programmes applicants should have a good 5-year Specialist Diploma (completed after 1991), with a minimum grade point average of 4/5 or 80%, from a recognised higher education institution or a Masters or “Magistr Diplomu” or “Kandidat Nauk” from a recognised higher education institution in Azerbaijan.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 75% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a CGPA of 3.0-3.3/4.0 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Students who hold a Masters degree from the University of Botswana with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 (70%/B/'very good') will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Please note 4-year bachelor degrees from the University of Botswana are considered equivalent to a Diploma of Higher Education. 5-year bachelor degrees from the University of Botswana are considered equivalent to a British Bachelor (Ordinary) degree.

Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

A Licenciatura or Bacharelado degree from a recognised Brazilian university:

• A grade of 7.5/10 for entry to programmes with a 2:1 requirement
• A grade of 6.5/10for entry to programmes with a 2:2 requirement

Holders of a good Bachelors degree with honours (4 to 6 years) from a recognised university with a upper second class grade or higher will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.  Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good post-2001 Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students with a minimum average of 14 out of 20 (or 70%) on a 4-year Licence, Bachelor degree or Diplôme d'Etudes Superieures de Commerce (DESC) or Diplôme d'Ingénieur or a Maîtrise will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Holders of a bachelor degree with honours from a recognised Canadian university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. A GPA of 3.0/4, 7.0/9 or 75% is usually equivalent to a UK 2.1.

Holders of the Licenciado or equivalent Professional Title from a recognised Chilean university will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Applicants for PhD study will preferably hold a Magister degree or equivalent.

Students with a bachelor’s degree (4 years minimum) may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. However please note that we will only consider students who meet the entry guidance below.  Please note: for the subject areas below we use the Shanghai Ranking 2022 (full table)  ,  Shanghai Ranking 2023 (full table) , and Shanghai Ranking of Chinese Art Universities 2023 .

需要具备学士学位（4年制）的申请人可申请研究生课程。请根据所申请的课程查看相应的入学要求。 请注意，中国院校名单参考 软科中国大学排名2022（总榜） ，  软科中国大学排名2023（总榜） ，以及 软科中国艺术类高校名单2023 。  

Business School    - MSc programmes (excluding MBA)  

商学院硕士课程（MBA除外）入学要求

School of Computer Science – all MSc programmes 计算机学院硕士课程入学要求

College of Social Sciences – courses listed below 社会科学 学院部分硕士课程入学要求 MA Education  (including all pathways) MSc TESOL Education MSc Public Management MA Global Public Policy MA Social Policy MA Sociology Department of Political Science and International Studies  全部硕士课程 International Development Department  全部硕士课程

  All other programmes (including MBA)   所有其他 硕士课程（包括 MBA）入学要求

Please note:

• Borderline cases: We may consider students with lower average score (within 5%) on a case-by-case basis if you have a relevant degree and very excellent grades in relevant subjects and/or relevant work experience. 如申请人均分低于相应录取要求（5%以内），但具有出色学术背景，优异的专业成绩，以及（或）相关的工作经验，部分课程将有可能单独酌情考虑。
• Please contact the China Recruitment Team for any questions on the above entry requirements. 如果您对录取要求有疑问，请联系伯明翰大学中国办公室   [email protected]

Holders of the Licenciado/Professional Title from a recognised Colombian university will be considered for our Postgraduate Diploma and Masters degrees. Applicants for PhD degrees will normally have a Maestria or equivalent.

Holders of a good bachelor degree with honours (4 to 6 years) from a recognised university with a upper second class grade or higher will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.  Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Bacclaureus (Bachelors) from a recognised Croatian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 4.0 out of 5.0, vrlo dobar ‘very good’, or a Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a Bachelors degree(from the University of the West Indies or the University of Technology) may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. A Class II Upper Division degree is usually equivalent to a UK 2.1. For further details on particular institutions please refer to the list below.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Masters degree or Mphil from the University of the West Indies.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum overall grade of 6.5 out of 10, or a GPA of 3 out of 4, and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bakalár from a recognised Czech Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 1.5, B, velmi dobre ‘very good’ (post-2004) or 2, velmi dobre ‘good’ (pre-2004), or a good post-2002 Magistr (Masters), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum overall grade of 7-10 out of 12 (or 8 out of 13) or higher for 2:1 equivalence and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters/ Magisterkonfereus/Magister Artium degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of the Licenciado or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Ecuadorian university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Grades of 70% or higher can be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Magister/Masterado or equivalent qualification, but holders of the Licenciado with excellent grades can be considered.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 75% from a recognised institution. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bakalaurusekraad from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 4/5 or B, or a good one- or two-year Magistrikraad from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree with very good grades (grade B, 3.5/4 GPA or 85%) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. 

Holders of a good Kandidaatti / Kandidat (old system), a professional title such as Ekonomi, Diplomi-insinööri, Arkkitehti, Lisensiaatti (in Medicine, Dentistry and Vetinary Medicine), or a Maisteri / Magister (new system), Lisensiaatti / Licenciat, Oikeustieteen Kandidaatti / Juris Kandidat (new system) or Proviisori / Provisor from a recognised Finnish Higher Education institution, with a minimum overall grade of 2/3 or 4/5, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters/Maîtrise with a minimum overall grade of 13 out of 20, or a Magistère / Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies / Diplôme d'Etudes Supérieures Specialisées / Mastère Specialis, from a recognised French university or Grande École to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a Magister Artium, a Diplom or an Erstes Staatsexamen from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 2.5, or a good two-year Lizentiat / Aufbaustudium / Zweites Staatsexamen or a Masters degree from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good four-year Ptychio (Bachelor degree) with a minimum overall grade of 6.5 out of 10, from a recognised Greek university (AEI), and will usually be required to have completed a good Metaptychiako Diploma Eidikefsis (Masters degree) from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

4-year Licenciado is deemed equivalent to a UK bachelors degree. A score of 75 or higher from Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC) can be considered comparable to a UK 2.1, 60 is comparable to a UK 2.2.  Private universities have a higher pass mark, so 80 or higher should be considered comparable to a UK 2.1, 70 is comparable to a UK 2.2

The Hong Kong Bachelor degree is considered comparable to British Bachelor degree standard. Students with bachelor degrees awarded by universities in Hong Kong may be considered for entry to one of our postgraduate degree programmes.

Students with Masters degrees may be considered for PhD study.

Holders of a good Alapfokozat / Alapképzés or Egyetemi Oklevel from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 3.5, or a good Mesterfokozat (Masters degree) or Egyetemi Doktor (university doctorate), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a 60% or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of the 4 year Sarjana (S1) from a recognised Indonesian institution will be considered for postgraduate study. Entry requirements vary with a minimum requirement of a GPA of 2.8.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a score of 14/20 or 70% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution, with 100 out of 110 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Students who hold the Maitrise, Diplome d'Etude Approfondies, Diplome d'Etude Superieures or Diplome d'Etude Superieures Specialisees will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees (14-15/20 or Bien from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 12-13/20 or Assez Bien is considered comparable to a UK 2.2).

Students with a Bachelor degree from a recognised university in Japan will be considered for entry to a postgraduate Masters degree provided they achieve a sufficiently high overall score in their first (Bachelor) degree. A GPA of 3.0/4.0 or a B average from a good Japanese university is usually considered equivalent to a UK 2:1.

Students with a Masters degree from a recognised university in Japan will be considered for PhD study. A high overall grade will be necessary to be considered.

Students who have completed their Specialist Diploma Мамаң дипломы/Диплом специалиста) or "Magistr" (Магистр дипломы/Диплом магистра) degree (completed after 1991) from a recognised higher education institution, with a minimum GPA of 2.67/4.00 for courses requiring a UK lower second and 3.00/4.00 for courses requiring a UK upper second class degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate Masters degrees and, occasionally, directly for PhD degrees.  Holders of a Bachelor "Bakalavr" degree (Бакалавр дипломы/Диплом бакалавра) from a recognised higher education institution, with a minimum GPA of  2.67/4.00 for courses requiring a UK lower second and 3.00/4.00 for courses requiring a UK upper second class degree, may also be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/50

Holders of a good Postgraduate Diploma (professional programme) from a recognised university or institution of Higher Education, with a minimum overall grade of 7.5 out of 10, or a post-2000 Magistrs, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a score of 16/20 or 80% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised university in Libya will be considered for postgraduate study. Holders of a Bachelors degree will normally be expected to have achieved score of 70% for 2:1 equivalency or 65% for 2:2 equivalency. Alternatively students will require a minimum of 3.0/4.0 or BB to be considered.

Holders of a good pre-2001 Magistras from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 8 out of 10, or a good post-2001 Magistras, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes

Holders of a good Bachelors degree from a recognised Luxembourgish Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 16 out of 20, or a Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées (comparable to a UK PGDip) or Masters degree from a recognised Luxembourgish Higher Education institution will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees (70-74% or A or Marginal Distinction from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 60-69% or B or Bare Distinction/Credit is considered comparable to a UK 2.2).

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised Malaysian institution (usually achieved with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average minimum of 3.0) will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a good Bachelors degree from the University of Malta with a minimum grade of 2:1 (Hons), and/or a Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree (Honours) from a recognised institution (including the University of Mauritius) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2:1).

Students who hold the Licenciado/Professional Titulo from a recognised Mexican university with a promedio of at least 8 will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Students who have completed a Maestria from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree, licence or Maîtrise and a Masters degree, with a score of 14/20 or 70% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Students with a good four year honours degree from a recognised university will be considered for postgraduate study at the University of Birmingham. PhD applications will be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 60-74% or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Doctoraal from a recognised Dutch university with a minimum overall grade of 7 out of 10, and/or a good Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree (minimum 4 years and/or level 400) from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum GPA of B/Very Good or 1.6-2.5 for a 2.1 equivalency, and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters, Mastergrad, Magister. Artium, Sivilingeniør, Candidatus realium or Candidatus philologiae degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a CGPA of 3.0/4 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised university in the Palestinian Territories will be considered for postgraduate study. Holders of Bachelors degree will normally be expected to have achieved a GPA of 3/4 or 80% for 2:1 equivalency or a GPA of 2.5/4 or 70% for 2:2 equivalency.    

Holders of the Título de Licenciado /Título de (4-6 years) or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Paraguayan university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Grades of 4/5 or higher can be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent.  The Título Intermedio is a 2-3 year degree and is equivalent to a HNC, it is not suitable for postgraduate entry but holders of this award could be considered for second year undergraduate entry or pre-Masters.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Título de Maestría / Magister or equivalent qualification, but holders of the Título/Grado de Licenciado/a with excellent grades can be considered.

Holders of the Licenciado, with at least 13/20 may be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent. The Grado de Bachiller is equivalent to an ordinary degree, so grades of 15+/20 are required.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Título de Maestría or equivalent qualification.

Holders of a good pre-2001 Magister from a recognised Polish university with a minimum overall grade of 4 out of 5, dobry ‘good’, and/or a good Swiadectwo Ukonczenia Studiów Podyplomowych (Certificate of Postgraduate Study) or post-2001 Magister from a recognised Polish university with a minimum overall grade of 4.5/4+ out of 5, dobry plus 'better than good', will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Licenciado from a recognised university, or a Diploma de Estudos Superiores Especializados (DESE) from a recognised Polytechnic Institution, with a minimum overall grade of 16 out of 20, and/or a good Mestrado / Mestre (Masters) from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised Romanian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 8 out of 10, and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree/Diploma de Master/Diploma de Studii Academice Postuniversitare (Postgraduate Diploma - Academic Studies) or Diploma de Studii Postuniversitare de Specializare (Postgraduate Diploma - Specialised Studies) to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Диплом Специалиста (Specialist Diploma) or Диплом Магистра (Magistr) degree from recognised universities in Russia (minimum GPA of 4.0) will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes/PhD study.

Students who hold a 4-year Bachelor degree with at least 16/20 or 70% will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.   

Students who hold a Maitrise, Diplome d'Etude Approfondies,Diplome d'Etude Superieures or Diplome d'Etude Superieures Specialisees will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. A score of 14-15/20 or Bien from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 12-13/20 or Assez Bien is considered comparable to a UK 2.2

Students who hold a Bachelor (Honours) degree from a recognised institution with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 (or a score of 60-69% or B+) from a well ranked institution will be considered for most our Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees with a 2:1 requirement.

Students holding a good Bachelors Honours degree will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a good three-year Bakalár or pre-2002 Magister from a recognised Slovakian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 1.5, B, Vel’mi dobrý ‘very good’, and/or a good Inžinier or a post-2002 Magister from a recognised Slovakian Higher Education institution will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Diploma o pridobljeni univerzitetni izobrazbi (Bachelors degree), Diplomant (Professionally oriented first degree), Univerzitetni diplomant (Academically oriented first degree) or Visoko Obrazovanja (until 1999) from a recognised Slovenian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 8.0 out of 10, and/or a good Diploma specializacija (Postgraduate Diploma) or Magister (Masters) will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor Honours degree (also known as Baccalaureus Honores / Baccalaureus Cum Honoribus) from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most Masters programmes will require a second class upper (70%) or a distinction (75%).

Holders of a Masters degree will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a Bachelor degree from a recognised South Korean institution (usually with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average 3.0/4.0 or 3.2/4.5) will be considered for Masters programmes.

Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 7 out of 10 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 60-74% or a CGPA 3.30/4.0 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Kandidatexamen (Bachelors degree) or Yrkesexamen (Professional Bachelors degree) from a recognised Swedish Higher Education institution with the majority of subjects with a grade of VG (Val godkänd), and/or a good Magisterexamen (Masters degree), International Masters degree or Licentiatexamen (comparable to a UK Mphil), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good "PostGraduate Certificate" or "PostGraduate Diploma" or a Masters degree from a recognised Swiss higher education institution (with a minimum GPA of 5/6 or 8/10 or 2/5 (gut-bien-bene/good) for a 2.1 equivalence) may be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0, 3.5/5 or 75% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bachelor degree (from 75% to 85% depending upon the university in Taiwan) from a recognised institution will be considered for postgraduate Masters study. Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for entry to our postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Masters degree or Mphil from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students with a Bachelors degree from the following universities may be considered for entry to postgraduate programmes:

• Ateneo de Manila University - Quezon City
• De La Salle University - Manila
• University of Santo Tomas
• University of the Philippines - Diliman

Students from all other institutions with a Bachelors and a Masters degree or relevant work experience may be considered for postgraduate programmes.

Grading Schemes

1-5 where 1 is the highest 2.1 = 1.75 2.2 = 2.25 

Out of 4.0 where 4 is the highest 2.1 = 3.0 2.2 = 2.5

Letter grades and percentages 2.1 = B / 3.00 / 83% 2.2 = C+ / 2.5 / 77%

Holders of a postdoctoral qualification from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.  Students may be considered for PhD study if they have a Masters from one of the above listed universities.

Holders of a Lisans Diplomasi with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0/4.0 from a recognised university will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a Yuksek Diplomasi from a recognised university will be considered for PhD study.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most Masters programmes will require a second class upper (2.1) or GPA of 3.5/5.0

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree / Диплом бакалавра (Dyplom Bakalavra), Диплом спеціаліста (Specialist Diploma) or a Dyplom Magistra from a recognised Ukrainian higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 4.0/5.0, 3.5/4, 8/12 or 80% or higher for 2:1 equivalence and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

The University will consider students who hold an Honours degree from a recognised institution in the USA with a GPA of:

• 2.8 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for entry to programmes with a 2:2 requirement 
• 3.2 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for entry to programmes with a 2:1 requirement 

Please note that some subjects which are studied at postgraduate level in the USA, eg. Medicine and Law, are traditionally studied at undergraduate level in the UK.

Holders of the Magistr Diplomi (Master's degree) or Diplomi (Specialist Diploma), awarded by prestigious universities, who have attained high grades in their studies will be considered for postgraduate study.  Holders of the Fanlari Nomzodi (Candidate of Science), where appropriate, will be considered for PhD study.

Holders of the Licenciatura/Título or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Venezuelan university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Scales of 1-5, 1-10 and 1-20 are used, an overall score of 70% or equivalent can be considered equivalent to a UK 2.1.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Maestria or equivalent qualification

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised Vietnamese institution (usually achieved with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average minimum GPA of 7.0 and above) will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.  Holders of a Masters degree (thac si) will be considered for entry to PhD programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree with a minimum GPA of 3.5/5.0 or a mark of 2.0/2.5 (A) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.   

Students who hold a good Bachelor Honours degree will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. 

International Students

Learn more about  international entry requirements  

We accept a range of qualifications from different countries; our  country pages  show you what qualifications we accept from your country.

English Language Requirements

You can satisfy our English language requirements in two ways:

• by holding an  English language qualification  to the right level
• by taking and successfully completing one of our  English courses for international students

Please note IELTS requirements for Postgraduate Research programmes in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences are 6.5 overall with no less than 6.0 in any band.

If you need help with your English language skills then support is available.

The English for Academic Purposes Presessional course is for international students who have a conditional offer to study at the University, but who do not currently meet the English language requirements. The course is tailored to your level of English and allows you to meet the English language requirements for your programme without retaking IELTS. The EAP programme runs throughout the year and offers different programme lengths ranging from 42 weeks to 6 weeks. The length of course you need depends on your future course, your existing IELTS score and the English level you need for your university degree.

Find out more about the  English for Academic Purposes Presessional  course.

You can choose from a wide range of research topics that must align with one of the main research areas in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.  These are:

End of Life Care Research

End of life care research in the School of Nursing and Midwifery encompasses work to investigate service design in end of care; decision making at the end of life; quality measures for end of life care; and service improvement activity. Much of this research is conducted in collaboration with a range of active research partners including the Marie Curie Hospice Solihull, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, City and Sandwell NHS Trust, Virginia Commonwealth University in the US and the University of Ottawa in Canada.

Organisation and Delivery of Services Research

This research focuses on the investigation and analysis of how services are designed and organised in order to better understand what is most effective in delivering high quality patient care. This involves a broad portfolio of activity including work to examine what constitutes compassionate organisations, how a research culture can be established in health care organisations, and evaluating the impact of new service developments on service delivery and outcomes. Research partnerships with the Health Services Management Centre and a number of local, national and international organisations are crucial to the conduct of this work.

Risk, Abuse and Violence (RAV) Research

Abuse and violence occurs in many forms and is an issue that affects many individuals across the life-course. These negative impacts are serious and long-term. In this research programme we undertake numerous projects that address violence and abuse, many of them focus explicitly on child protection. The issue of domestic violence is also a strong theme in this programme.

Risk is conceived of as a broader issue than violence and abuse and includes any factors that may make an individual vulnerable or marginalised within society through for example, their gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity and disability. The research undertaken in Risk Abuse and Violence straddles multiple disciplines and organisations and we have collaborators in Michigan (USA), Finland and New Zealand.

Find out more about the  Risk, Abuse and Violence Research Programme

Search our  Doctoral Researcher Database  to find out about our latest vacancies and scholarship opportunities or if you are looking to conduct research in other areas  [email protected]  to discuss your intended area of study.

We have a global reputation for our world leading research and teaching as follows:

• Times 2024: Ranked 19th for Medicine.
• Complete University Guide 2024: Ranked 15th for Nursing.
• QS World rankings 2024: 69th for Medicine. The Life Sciences and Medicine overarching faculty area is ranked 68th in the world.
• US News rankings 2023: 65th for Clinical Medicine.
• Shanghai rankings 2023: 51st – 75th for Clinical Medicine.
• Times Higher Education rankings 2024: 74th for Clinical & Health.

Our employability rates within the College are excellent, with 95% of all surveyed students achieving employment within a year of study.

A high proportion of our postgraduate research students go onto roles such as Research fellow/ postdoctoral researcher, medical writer, scientist/ research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, and clinical trial coordinator.

Employers include the NHS Trusts, Cancer Research UK, pharma and biotech companies (including AstraZeneca, Covance, Binding Site, Immunocore, Johnson and Johnson), Medical Communications agencies (e.g. Fishawack, Insight Medical Writing), the Armed Forces and the University of Birmingham.

Career support through Career Network

A PhD is the highest level of academic achievement available and vital for the continued professional development of scientists. Completing a PhD at Birmingham will extend your knowledge base in your chosen subject, as well as enhancing your problem solving and analytical; communication and teaching; and leadership and management skills – all of which are valued across the academic and private sectors. It will also enable you to provide you with the opportunity to develop your network of peers, collaborators and colleagues to support your onward career.

Whatever path you choose to take as a postgraduate researcher, the University offers guidance and support in all aspects of planning your next step. Our resources include:

• Alumni biographies and talks to learn more about their career journey and reflect on the journey you may follow after completing your PhD;
• Resources for writing industry or academic specific applications, CVs and cover letters;
• Up to date information about the PhD labour market;
• Career planning guide;
• Job searching resources both for roles within academia and non-academia;
• Training and skills development workshops for postgraduate researchers;
• Access to the Postgraduate Enterprise Summer School
• Virtual Consultancy Challenge
• 1-1 Business start-up advice

Find out more on our  Careers Network for Postgraduate Researchers web pages .

Our Careers Network offers free online resources, face to face consultation and also runs the Global Careers blog, with posts about having a career abroad and international graduates building a career in the UK. International students are also supported via the Global Careers event series, designed for international students, focusing on country or industry specific job applications and interview skills.

Events in the past have included:

• Hays Asia recruitment event - for offices across China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia
• Global opportunities at Amazon
• Global University Career Development Conference (GUCDC)
• LinkedIn group for international students and alumni from the University of Birmingham to connect
• Online chat events

• Schools & departments

PhD Nursing Studies

The PhD Nursing Studies programme is an advanced postgraduate research degree for students wishing to conduct in-depth independent research on an area to contribute to nursing knowledge and evidence. It offers the student a chance to make a significant contribution to knowledge in nursing.

Please check the  postgraduate Degree Finder  to see the specific entry requirements, start date and application deadlines. 

The PhD programme offers the possibility to work with and be supervised by a range of academics across many areas of Nursing Studies, who have international reputations and outstanding publications in their areas of expertise. Our programme is undertaken over three years full-time or six years part-time.   

In the first year, students typically choose a number of optional taught postgraduate courses from within the School of Health, or other Schools within the University, as appropriate to their research programme, and as agreed with their supervisor. Subsequent years of the PhD programme primarily focus on recruitment of study participants, data collection and analysis of the main research, which can then be written up and completed by the end of the third year.

Current Student Research

Why choose this programme.

This programme is an advanced research degree enabling students to conduct in-depth independent research on a topic of their choice, thereby contributing to the knowledge and evidence base for nursing worldwide. Our current and past students have contributed to a range of research areas within nursing and healthcare more broadly. 

A vibrant and inclusive research environment

The University of Edinburgh is a world-leader in research and innovation and an international centre of academic excellence. Students on this programme will become part of an active and diverse research community in the School of Health in Social Science and will have access to the wide-range of learning environments and outstanding resources that the University has to offer. Our postgraduate researchers work in close proximity to each other, enabling them to pool their expertise and knowledge to tackle complex challenges and push the boundaries of discovery. Students will be encouraged to engage with a wide range of seminars, talks, and events, and often have the opportunity to present their own research at national and international conferences. Our student-led postgraduate research blog provides a snapshot of the activities and events our PGR students organise and are involved in.

Find out more about ongoing research in our School

Our main areas of research activity and development in Nursing Studies currently relate to the themes of experience of health and illness, and organisation and policy for person-centred care. We have expertise in a range of qualitative and quantitative and mixed methods research approaches.

Supervisor Specialties:

Policy, professions and care, sudden interruptions in health, global public health, social justice and health inequity, phd by distance.

There is also an opportunity to undertake this programme through our PhD by Distance option. The PhD by Distance is available to suitably qualified applicants in the same areas as our on-campus programmes: Clinical and Health Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Health in Social Science and Nursing Studies.

The programme allows students who are unable to commit to basing themselves in Edinburgh full time to study for a PhD in a field of Health in Social Science from their home country or city - however this is not intended to be a fully online distance learning programme.

Students enrolled on this programme will be expected to come to Edinburgh at least once per year of study to meet with their supervisors. The length and timing of these visits are negotiable but students should expect to spend at least two weeks at the University of Edinburgh during each year of study.

Find out more about the PhD by Distance

Join our extraordinary Nursing Community

Nursing offers a profound sense of purpose and fulfillment as it involves caring for and making a positive difference in the lives of others. We are one of the top ten universities in the UK to offer Nursing, and our students' experience is second to none. Find out what it's like to join our close-knit community of international students and staff at the University of Edinburgh.

Find out more about our Nursing Community

The School of Health in Social Science offers several fully funded MScR and PhD studentships each year. A variety of scholarships are available, which vary from full scholarships covering tuition fees and a stipend to cover living expenses, to partial scholarships.

Find out more about our scholarships and funding opportunities

Beyond the programme  

The PhD Nursing Studies offers many opportunities. For instance, graduates who complete a PhD in nursing have gone on to obtain roles as a Director or leader in a variety of healthcare organizations, where they may supervise nursing research or projects. This can also include working for the government, where they may get an opportunity to influence healthcare policy and practice.  

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Study Postgraduate Nursing and Midwifery.

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Why study postgraduate nursing and midwifery at Flinders?

Boost your career, develop life-changing skills and provide specialised care to patients with a range of complex health issues. 

Graduates of all our postgraduate programs thrive in a wide range of settings and provide skilful care to individuals, families and communities.  Take on leadership and specialised care roles in a variety of areas, including diabetes management and education, mental health nursing, emergency nursing and nurse practitioner roles. Or, begin your path in research with the Master of Nursing which you can complete in as little as 1.5 years.

Our postgraduate degrees are built to be as flexible as possible and work with your lifestyle with options for part-time or full-time and some courses that can be completed in as little as six months. Be fearless with a degree in postgraduate nursing.

Postgraduate studies for midwives are available through the following HDR pathways - Master of Science, Master of Health & Clinical Research and PhD. Through these courses, topics pertinent and important to midwives and reproductive health and childbirth can be explored. Students will work with experienced midwifery staff to develop their supervised research project. Current midwifery postgraduate students are local, national, and international covering varied clinical challenges, workforce issues, education and research dissemination utilising both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

Postgraduate Nursing & Midwifery courses

• Bachelor of Midwifery (Post-Registration) (Registered Nurse)
• Bachelor of Nursing (Graduate Entry)
• Child and Family Health Nursing Midyear entry
• Critical Care Nursing Midyear entry
• Diabetes Management and Education Midyear entry
• Emergency Nursing Midyear entry
• Mental Health Midyear entry
• Nurse Practitioner Midyear entry
• Older Adult Care and Wellbeing Midyear entry
• Postgraduate Nursing Midyear entry
• Trauma Responsive Practice Midyear entry
• Doctor of Philosophy
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) Midyear entry
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by Prior Published Work Midyear entry
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Health Emergencies and Health Security Midyear entry
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Palliative Care and End of Life Midyear entry
• Master of Health and Clinical Research Midyear entry
• Master of Science Midyear entry

No.1 in SA for Nursing.

(2023 Academic World Ranking of World Universities, public SA-founded universities only).

No. 48 in the world

for Nursing.

(2022 Academic World Ranking of World Universities, public SA-founded universities only).

No.1 in SA in Nursing for median salary and learning resources.

(The Good Universities Guide 2022 (postgraduate), public SA-founded universities only)

In as little as six months you will be able to examine complex issues associated with nursing critically ill patients in a range of nursing environments and clinical settings including emergency, intensive care and paediatric care. Nurses will be provided with the opportunity to develop advanced knowledge and skills in scholarship, evidence-based practice, and leadership. It is suited to nurses with a solid foundation in clinical practice who want to improve healthcare.

Nurse practitioners have the expertise and authority required to prescribe medications and assess and diagnose health conditions. Build life changing knowledge and skills to provide this skilful care to individuals, families, and communities to prevent illness, promote healthy lifestyles and manage a range of emerging complex health issues. Prepare yourself for an advanced practice role and develop the skills necessary to provide leadership within your area of practice.

Shape the future of older adult care across diverse settings, advocating for their wellbeing and improving their quality of life.

Our program is designed for healthcare professionals, caregivers, and those aiming to enhance their expertise in promoting the wellbeing of older adults. Whether you aspire to become a geriatric nurse, care coordinator, patient advocate, or a policy influencer in the field of elderly care, we'll equip you with the essential knowledge and skills needed to excel in various healthcare settings, from hospitals, rehabilitate centres and nursing homes.

Join Flinders University and make a meaningful difference in the lives of older adults and their families.

Gain life-changing skills and knowledge to provide critically ill patients with immediate intensive care needs. In as little as one year you will build a comprehensive understanding of the theoretical frameworks and practical, evidence-based research skills that are required for nurses to work in critical care environments. You will acquire advanced knowledge and skills to care for patients with complex medical needs in critical care environments, such as hospital intensive care units (ICU).

Become a leader and boost your career in as little as one year. Gain life-changing knowledge and specialised skills to effectively prioritise, manage and provide advanced care to patients who present at hospital emergency departments. Further develop skills in leadership, critical thinking, and teamwork and develop essential skills to manage and prioritise patients with acute illness, disease and trauma.

Expand your knowledge and experience in diabetes management regardless of whether you have come from nursing or another health profession. You will be equipped to understand the research in this area, as well as boost your ability to lead a multidisciplinary team to provide skilful care to people with diabetes, one of the biggest challenges confronting Australia’s health system.

Gain life changing specialist skills and knowledge to practice mental health nursing in an acute care setting. Prepare yourself to respond to and care for people with mental health challenges such as depression, schizophrenia, or psychosis. You will gain an understanding of what impact mental health has on the provision of overall care within the health care system.

Pursue specialised practice in child, adolescent, and family health nursing in the community. Learn to appreciate the cultural and emotional needs of families with young children, allowing them to thrive and grow in supportive environments. In as little as a year, you’ll be prepared for work in community child and family health services, with a focus on early years but knowledge and skills also for middle childhood and adolescent health care.

Whether you want to explore a topic that interests you in depth, create new knowledge, foster collaboration or become an expert  in your field, a higher degree by research at Flinders will help you make the difference.

The Master of Health and Clinical Research program has been developed specifically as an HDR pathway for professionals in any health field, giving graduates specialised knowledge and skills for research. A focused area of nursing or midwifery can be chosen as the field of research. An 18-unit course of advanced coursework topics followed by a time-based supervised research project culminating in an externally-examined thesis, students who  successfully complete the course will be eligible to apply for admission to a PhD.

Why study at Flinders?

Our fresh approach to postgraduate nursing study includes graduate certificates, graduate diplomas and masters programs. in as little as six months, you will become better positioned to become an innovator in practice and health delivery..

• We’ll help deliver the boost your career needs to thrive in a wide range of settings. 
• Our excellent teaching staff will help refine your leadership, problem solving and teamwork skills, allowing you to specialise in an area of your interest. 
• We can fit around you and your busy lifestyle. Some of our courses can be completed in as little as six months and we offer full time and part time options, as well as online and on-campus.
• Our flexible course structure means you will be awarded with a qualification as you study, where you previously had to exit the degree to receive a qualification.  
• You’ll be equipped with knowledge of the latest evidence-based practice. Many of our teaching staff are also active researchers and members of Flinders University’s Caring Futures Institute , and we’re globally recognised by industry. All our programs have the latest evidence-based learning outcomes.

Apply now for postgraduate study

How to apply for postgraduate study

Most postgraduate applications are made through the  South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre (SATAC) .

Many of our postgraduate courses are nested, meaning you have flexible entry and exit points. So if you enrol in a Masters and do not complete it – but  do  complete the nested Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma – you may exit with that qualification.

You may also be eligible for credit towards your course depending on your prior skills, experience and study.

Find out more

Get inspired

Postgraduate nursing with tiffany conroy.

Hear more about the opportunities for Postgraduate Nursing at Flinders.

Study Postgraduate Nursing at Flinders

Find out more about Postgraduate Nursing in Mental Health.

Army reserves nurse a model of resilience and bravery

From working as a nurse in emergency departments, immigration detention centres and in military operations, Bridget Henderson has learnt to quickly adapt to all situations.

Nursing leader carves her own path to achieve dreams

Flinders graduate Karen Hammad (BNg(Hons) ’10, PhD(Ng/Midwif) ’17) has enjoyed a diverse career in nursing. Starting her career as a registered nurse, Karen now specialises in health emergencies and health security – an amazing journey that has taken her across clinical, academia, consultancy, and leadership roles.

Entry requirements

Most courses require you to be a registered nurse and some courses have specific entry requirements around post-registration work experience and academic qualifications.

However, Flinders University may under certain circumstances and subject to specific conditions admit others who can show evidence of fitness for candidature.

Refer to the course page (linked above) for each specialisation for entry requirements.

Frequently asked questions

Apart from the Diabetes Management and Education course, you will be required to have current registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) to be admitted into the postgraduate nursing programs. In addition, some courses have specific entry requirements around post-registration work experience and academic qualifications.

You may be eligible for credit towards your course depending on your prior skills, experience, and study. You will be able to apply for credit once admitted into the program.

Many of our postgraduate courses are nested, meaning you have flexible entry and exit points. If you enrol in a master’s and do not complete it – but do complete the nested Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma – you may exit with that Qualification.

Yes, we have a program specifically for international students named the Master of Acute Care Nursing.

Yes, all post graduate nursing programs can be completed online. However, some courses do require attendance at workshops or intensive weeks. Please be sure to check the course rule.

Yes. Part-time study is encouraged, especially if you are working more than 20 hours per week.

Applications are completed via SATAC.

Visit: https://www.satac.edu.au/

Higher Degrees by Research

Whether you want to explore a topic that interests you, create new in-depth knowledge, foster collaboration or become an expert in your field, a higher degree by research at Flinders will help you make a difference.

We’re here to help you every step of the way.

If you would like to talk to one of our friendly advisors about applying to university or to discuss your study options and pathways, please contact us.

1300 354 633

Sturt Rd, Bedford Park South Australia 5042

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NURS415 Nursing Research Methods

An advanced research methods paper designed to provide students with a working knowledge of a range of methods and analyses used in the field of nursing research. Content will include both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and address research ethics.

The paper gives students the opportunity to establish a foundation of knowledge in a range of research approaches from which to effectively use and undertake nursing research relevant to the practice setting. It works through the research process, from forming the research question to the dissemination of findings, and explores both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

About this paper

Convenor: Dr David Healee

Content will include:

• Understanding ways of knowing and the relationship to 'truth' and knowledge
• Research Process: background, research questions, ethics, sampling, data collection and analysis, discussion and recommendations, and dissemination of findings
• Methodologies - qualitative and quantitative paradigms
• Research designs and related research methods
• Ethical, cultural and legal considerations
• Critical appraisal of health research

This Distance Learning paper is a combination of remote and in-person teaching.

Three 2-day study blocks.

View Timetable information .

The recommended textbook for this paper is:

Polit, D.F., & Beck, C.T. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/ Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins.

Note: 9th or 10th edition is fine.

If you choose not to use the recommended textbook you are strongly advised to purchase a recent, health research textbook that covers:

• the entire research process from formulating a research question to the dissemination of findings and;
• both qualitative and quantitative research approaches

You are encouraged to read widely to explore a range of research approaches. It is recommended that you start to read about health research prior to the commencement of study block one. This could include research articles or research texts. Developing skills of information/literature searching and retrieval is an essential part of self-directed study and research itself.

Students who successfully complete the paper will be able to:

• Articulate the significance of research to the discipline of nursing in terms of integration of theory and practice and the advancement of knowledge and the profession
• Explain the relationship between epistemology and methodology and the application of these concepts in designing a project
• Evaluate various methods of data collection
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of methods of data analysis and interpretation
• Review and evaluate research literature in a systematic and critical way
• Critique the ethical, legal and social aspects involved in research
• Utilise research effectively to ensure a sound basis for clinical practice
• Demonstrate the ability to integrate and synthesise a diverse body of knowledge for application to nursing practice
• Formulate a research proposal

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Postgraduate research training

A list of UK Higher Education Institutions that offer postgraduate research training opportunities

We recognize the need to increase the research capacity and capability of the nursing research workforce to build a dynamic knowledge base of sufficient depth and coverage. To support this, we have identified below those UK universities which offer some form of postgraduate research training opportunity, including taught doctorates.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all postgraduate courses. We recognise that many will incorporate a research module, but this list focuses on those courses specific to developing research capacity and capability, and the course will typically include the word research in its title. Please email suggestions and corrections to [email protected]

• Professional Doctorate in Health and Social Care
• Professional Doctorate in Health (DHealth)
• Health and Wellbeing (MRes)
• Professional Doctorate in Children & Young People's Services Leadership
• Professional Doctorate in Systemic Practice
• MSc by Research
• Clinical Health Research (MRes)
• Clinical Trials (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Health Research Methods (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• MSc by Research (Nursing, Applied Health Research)
• Health Research (MSc)
• Master's by Research (MRes)
• Social Sciences Research for Healthcare (MSc)
• Health Research (MRes, PgDip, PgCert)
• Clinical research, education and leadership (PgCert)
• Professional Doctorate in Health (DProf)
• Clinical Research (MSc)
• Doctor of Professional Studies (DProf) in Health and Social Care
• Professional Doctorate of Health Studies (DHS)
• Practice Development (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Master's by Research (MA, MSc)
• Master's in Research (Applied Health Studies) (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Doctorate in Health and Social Care Practice
• Clinical Research (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Masters by Research (MRes)
• Professional Doctorate (multiple areas)
• Health Research Methods (MSc)
• Nursing MSc by Research
• Professional Doctorate in Health Research
• Masters by Research (various, including Nursing and Midwifery)
• Health Professional Doctorate - Nursing (DNursing)
• Clinical Research (MRes)
• Clinical Research Delivery (MSc/PG Dip)
• Clinical Research (MClinRes)
• Healthcare Research Skills and Methods (PgCert)
• Quantitative and translational skills in global health (MRes)
• Health Research (PgDip, PgCert)
• Applied Health Research (MRes, PgCert)
• Quality and Safety in Healthcare (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Master's by Research (Health and Social Care) (MA, MSc)
• Health and wellbeing (MRes)
• Doctorate in Professional Practice (DProf)
• Clinical Research (MClin Res, PgDip Clin Res, PgCert Clin Res)
• Health and Social Care (MRes HSC, PGDip Res HSC, PGCert Res HSC)
• Doctorate in Professional Studies (Health)
• Master of Research Programmes
• Doctoral Research Programmes (MPhil and PhD)
• Doctorate of Professional Practice in Health and Social Care
• Healthcare Professional Practice (MRes)
• Quality and Patient Safety Improvement (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Research Methods (Health) (MA)
• Evidence-Based Health Care (MSc)
• Evidence-Based Health Care (Medical Statistics) (MSc)
• Evidence-Based Health Care (Systematic Reviews) (MSc)
• Qualitative Health Research Methods (PgCert)
• Professional Doctorate in Nursing (DNurs)
• Science (Health and Social Care) MRes
• Health Care Research Methods (MSc, PgDip)
• Professional Doctorate (Health and Social Care)
• Using and disseminating evidence into practice (PgCert)
• Public Health (Health Services Research) (MPH, PgDip, PgCert)
• Clinical and Health Research (MRes)
• Professional Doctorate (DProf)
• Doctor of Professional Practice
• Health Research (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Professional Doctorate in Nursing (DNurs), Midwifery (DMid), Health Studies (DHS)
• Improvement Science (MSc)
• Professional Practice in Healthcare (Research and Enterprise) MSc, PgDip, PgCert
• Applied Health Research (MSc)
• Health Research and Statistics (PgCert)
• Mental Health Research (MSc)

Northern Ireland

• Advanced methods in research and development in health and social care (Pg Short Course)
• Research Methods for Health (online learning) (PgCert)
• Professional Doctorate in Health Sciences (DHSci)
• Clinical Audit and Research for Healthcare Professionals (PgCert)
• Quality Improvement and Patient Safety) (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• MSc by Research in Nursing Studies
• Clinical Trials (online learning) (MSc, PgDip, PgCert, PgProfDev)
• Developing and Evaluating Interventions (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Health Professions Education (with Research) (MSc)
• Healthcare Quality Improvement (PgCert)
• Research Methods (PgCert)
• Professional Doctorate
• Master of Research (MRes)
• Clinical Doctorate: Doctor of Nursing/Midwifery
• Health Research (online) (MRes, PgDip, PgCert)
• Doctor of Professional Studies (DProf)
• Professional Doctorate in Healthcare (DHealthcare)
• Applied Health Research (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Leading Quality Improvement (MSc, PgDip, PgCert)
• Masters by Research (MRes) (Ageing and Dementia Studies; Health Economics, Implementation)
• Professional Doctorate in Health Studies (DHS)
• MSc by Research (Health and Wellbeing)

Research and innovation bulletin

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Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Overview

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Explore our full list of Integrity Network members.

• What Can I Do?

How to Get an MSN

• Admission Requirements
• Core Concepts
• What to Expect
• BSN vs. MSN

Are you ready to earn your online nursing degree?

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Degree at a Glance

• Average Program Length: 1-2 years
• Average Credits Required: 36 to 60
• Average Annual Salary: $103,000 (Payscale, February 2024)
• Offered Online? Partially
• Clinical Hours Required? Yes
• Program Traits: Advanced clinical skills, leadership and management, research, health policy, and ethical, legal, and communication skills

A master of science in nursing (MSN) is an advanced degree for registered nurses wanting to specialize in management, education, or clinical practice.

An MSN enhances your clinical skills, leadership capabilities, and research proficiency, helping you pursue higher-level positions and increased salaries.

Popular Online MSN Programs

Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

What Can I Do With an MSN Degree?

With an MSN degree, you can work with various patient populations in different settings. An MSN degree opens the door to advanced roles and increased salary potential.

Graduates can pursue various careers specializing in family care, psychiatry, pediatrics, gerontology, policy, and research:

• Nurse Practitioner

Clinical Nurse Specialist

Nurse educator.

• Nurse Administrator
• Health Policy Expert
• Nurse Consultant
• Clinical Research Nurse

MSN graduates are prepared to lead, educate, and innovate within the healthcare sector. They can have a significant impact on patient outcomes and the nursing profession.

Specialized MSN Tracks

Specialized MSN programs enable candidates to focus on specific areas of care. These specializations prepare graduates for advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) roles addressing various patient needs and advancing healthcare delivery using specialized expertise and skills.

Certified Nurse Midwife

These APRNs specialize in childbirth, reproductive health, and gynecological care. They provide holistic and supportive care throughout pregnancy, labor, and postpartum.

Family Nurse Practitioner

Family nurse practitioners offer comprehensive healthcare across the lifespan. They diagnose and treat a variety of acute and chronic health conditions while emphasizing disease prevention and health management.

Nurse Anesthetist

Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) provide care before, during, and after the administration of anesthesia and surgical procedures. They protect patient safety and comfort in a variety of healthcare settings. Note that a doctor of nursing practice is required to become a CRNA.

Nurse educators help shape the future of nursing by teaching and mentoring students. They collaborate with colleagues to develop curricula and promote evidence-based practice in academic and clinical settings.

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

These APRNs specialize in diagnosing and treating mental health disorders. They provide therapy, prescribe medications, and implement behavioral health therapies across the lifespan.

A CNS focuses on improving patient outcomes and health delivery within a specialized area of practice, such as pediatrics, oncology, geriatrics, and women’s health.

How Much Will I Make With a Master’s Degree in Nursing?

$8,580 Monthly

$103,000 Annually

Source: Payscale

• Step 1: Decide on the Type of MSN Program
• Step 2: Find an MSN Program
• Step 3: Apply to MSN Programs
• Step 4: Secure Funding for MSN Programs
• Step 5: Attend MSN Classes
• Step 6: Graduate with an MSN

Admission Requirements for a Master in Nursing Program

The length of an MSN varies depending on whether you attend full-time or part-time and the specialization you choose. Admission requirements to a program can vary by institution. However, there are several general requirements, including:

Undergraduate Credits

Most programs require a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree from an accredited institution. However, some allow nurses with an ADN to obtain their BSN and MSN in the same program; others allow those with a bachelor’s degree in another field who meet specific coursework prerequisites.

Transcripts

Official transcripts from all undergraduate and postgraduate coursework.

Application Materials

These can include a completed application form, personal statement, letters of recommendation, and resume.

Minimum GPA

Most programs require a minimum GPA, but some will compromise when applicants meet other criteria.

Test Scores

Most programs no longer require test scores, but some require GRE or GMAT scores.

Core Concepts in a Master in Nursing Program

An MSN program covers the skills and competencies needed for advanced nursing practice, leadership, and specialized care. Graduates can pursue roles that demonstrate a deep understanding of the complexities of healthcare and the ability to improve patient and system outcomes. Core concepts of an MSN program often emphasize advanced clinical skills, patient care, healthcare policies, ethics, and evidence-based practice.

• Advanced Pharmacology: Understanding the use and effect of drugs in advanced practice.
• Pathophysiology: The study of physical and biological abnormalities in disease.
• Health Assessment: Advanced skills in assessment, including physical and psychological aspects.
• Nursing Ethics: Ethical issues and decision-making.
• Healthcare Policy: Analysis and implications of healthcare policy on practice and patient outcomes.
• Leadership: Strategies for leading teams and improving healthcare delivery systems.
• Research Methods: Techniques for conducting and applying research to improve patient care.

Clinical & Lab Components in an MSN Program

MSN programs require students to complete a certain amount of clinical hours to graduate. Online MSN programs have similar requirements. Clinical Hour practicum requirements vary greatly from specialty to specialty.

• Nurse Practitioner: 500-600 hours
• Clinical Nurse Specialist: 600+ hours
• Nurse Midwife: 1,000 hours
• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Programs: 2,500 hours + administering of 800 anesthetics

What to Expect From an Online MSN Program

Traditional and online MSN programs often offer flexibility and accessibility for working professionals. However, students can expect more flexible scheduling in an online MSN format . The didactic component is typically all online and asynchronous, allowing candidates to absorb theoretical and knowledge-based content in self-paced study.

Most online MSN programs use a hybrid approach, including online learning and in-person labs and clinical rotations . Online MSN programs typically use an interactive learning platform to support discussion forums, video lectures, and virtual simulations.

Earning a BSN vs. an MSN

Earning a bsn.

• The BSN is designed to educate aspiring nurses. Students must commit to four years of rigorous study, and many find it difficult to work full time while in school.
• Coursework is designed to develop critical thinking. The study of natural and social sciences, public health, research techniques, and communication teaches nurses how to make informed decisions about patient care.
• Undergraduate programs focus on preparing nurses to work in a variety of clinical settings. Most practicums are designed to expose students to direct patient care, emphasizing general technique and nursing best practices.

Pros to Accelerated BSN

Cons to accelerated bsn, earning an msn.

• Many working nurses complete the master’s degree in nursing in two years without leaving their full-time jobs.
• Master’s degree in nursing candidates can choose study tracks focusing on specialized nursing topics like gerontology, anesthesia, or sports medicine. Nurses interested in nonclinical roles can focus on management, informatics, or nursing education.
• In a master’s degree in nursing program, candidates are exposed to a workplace environment that correlates with their chosen specialization. Hands-on experience allows candidates to put their knowledge of advanced theory into practice.

Pros to Accelerated MSN

Cons to accelerated msn.

Page last reviewed March 12, 2024

The Best Online Master’s in Nursing Programs

Looking to advance your career with an MSN degree? In this guide, explore the best online MSN programs and how to apply.

The Best Online RN-to-MSN Programs

The Top Direct-Entry Master’s in Nursing Programs

The Best RN-to-MSN Programs (No BSN Required) of 2024

Are you ready to earn your online nursing degree.

Whether you’re looking to get your pre-licensure degree or taking the next step in your career, the education you need could be more affordable than you think. Find the right nursing program for you.

• Open access
• Published: 22 May 2024

Preparedness for a first clinical placement in nursing: a descriptive qualitative study

• Philippa H. M. Marriott 1 ,
• Jennifer M. Weller-Newton 2   nAff3 &
• Katharine J. Reid 4  

BMC Nursing volume  23 , Article number:  345 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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A first clinical placement for nursing students is a challenging period involving translation of theoretical knowledge and development of an identity within the healthcare setting; it is often a time of emotional vulnerability. It can be a pivotal moment for ambivalent nursing students to decide whether to continue their professional training. To date, student expectations prior to their first clinical placement have been explored in advance of the experience or gathered following the placement experience. However, there is a significant gap in understanding how nursing students’ perspectives about their first clinical placement might change or remain consistent following their placement experiences. Thus, the study aimed to explore first-year nursing students’ emotional responses towards and perceptions of their preparedness for their first clinical placement and to examine whether initial perceptions remain consistent or change during the placement experience.

The research utilised a pre-post qualitative descriptive design. Six focus groups were undertaken before the first clinical placement (with up to four participants in each group) and follow-up individual interviews ( n  = 10) were undertaken towards the end of the first clinical placement with first-year entry-to-practice postgraduate nursing students. Data were analysed thematically.

Three main themes emerged: (1) adjusting and managing a raft of feelings, encapsulating participants’ feelings about learning in a new environment and progressing from academia to clinical practice; (2) sinking or swimming, comprising students’ expectations before their first clinical placement and how these perceptions are altered through their clinical placement experience; and (3) navigating placement, describing relationships between healthcare staff, patients, and peers.

Conclusions

This unique study of first-year postgraduate entry-to-practice nursing students’ perspectives of their first clinical placement adds to the extant knowledge. By examining student experience prior to and during their first clinical placement experience, it is possible to explore the consistency and change in students’ narratives over the course of an impactful experience. Researching the narratives of nursing students embarking on their first clinical placement provides tertiary education institutions with insights into preparing students for this critical experience.

Peer Review reports

First clinical placements enable nursing students to develop their professional identity through initial socialisation, and where successful, first clinical placement experiences can motivate nursing students to persist with their studies [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Where the transition from the tertiary environment to learning in the healthcare workplace is turbulent, it may impact nursing students’ learning, their confidence and potentially increase attrition rates from educational programs [ 2 , 5 , 6 ]. Attrition from preregistration nursing courses is a global concern, with the COVID-19 pandemic further straining the nursing workforce; thus, the supply of nursing professionals is unlikely to meet demand [ 7 ]. The COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted nursing education, with student nurses augmenting the diminishing nursing workforce [ 7 , 8 ].

The first clinical placement often triggers immense anxiety and fear for nursing students [ 9 , 10 ]. Research suggests that among nursing students, anxiety arises from perceived knowledge deficiencies, role ambiguity, the working environment, caring for ‘real’ people, potentially causing harm, exposure to nudity and death, and ‘not fitting in’ [ 2 , 3 , 11 ]. These stressors are reported internationally and often relate to inadequate preparation for entering the clinical environment [ 2 , 10 , 12 ]. Previous research suggests that high anxiety before the first clinical placement can be related to factors likely to affect patient outcomes, such as self-confidence and efficacy [ 13 ]. High anxiety during clinical placement may impair students’ capacity to learn, thus compromising the value of the clinical environment for learning [ 10 ].

The first clinical placement often occurs soon after commencing nursing training and can challenge students’ beliefs, philosophies, and preconceived ideas about nursing. An experience of cultural or ‘reality’ shock often arises when entering the healthcare setting, creating dissonance between reality and expectations [ 6 , 14 ]. These experiences may be exacerbated by tertiary education providers teaching of ‘ideal’ clinical practice [ 2 , 6 ]. The perceived distance between theoretical knowledge and what is expected in a healthcare placement, as opposed to what occurs on clinical placement, has been well documented as the theory-practice gap or an experience of cognitive dissonance [ 2 , 3 ].

Given the pivotal role of the first clinical placement in nursing students’ trajectories to nursing practice, it is important to understand students’ experiences and to explore how the placement experience shapes initial perceptions. Existing research focusses almost entirely either on describing nursing students’ projected emotions and perceptions prior to undertaking a first clinical placement [ 3 ] or examines student perceptions of reflecting on a completed first placement [ 15 ]. We wished to examine consistency and change in student perception of their first clinical placement by tracking their experiences longitudinally. We focused on a first clinical placement undertaken in a Master of Nursing Science. This two-year postgraduate qualification provides entry-to-practice nursing training for students who have completed any undergraduate qualification. The first clinical placement component of the course aimed to orient students to the clinical environment, support students to acquire skills and develop their clinical reasoning through experiential learning with experienced nursing mentors.

This paper makes a significant contribution to understanding how nursing students’ perceptions might develop over time because of their clinical placement experiences. Our research addresses a further gap in the existing literature, by focusing on students completing an accelerated postgraduate two-year entry-to-practice degree open to students with any prior undergraduate degree. Thus, the current research aimed to understand nursing students’ emotional responses and expectations and their perceptions of preparedness before attending their first clinical placement and to contrast these initial perceptions with their end-of-placement perspectives.

Study design

A descriptive qualitative study was undertaken, utilising a pre- and post-design for data collection. Focus groups with first-year postgraduate entry-to-practice nursing students were conducted before the first clinical placement, with individual semi-structured interviews undertaken during the first clinical placement.

Setting and participants

All first-year students enrolled in the two-year Master of Nursing Science program ( n  = 190) at a tertiary institution in Melbourne, Australia, were eligible to participate. There were no exclusion criteria. At the time of this study, students were enrolled in a semester-long subject focused on nursing assessment and care. They studied the theoretical underpinnings of nursing and science, theoretical and practical nursing clinical skills and Indigenous health over the first six weeks of the course. Students completed a preclinical assessment as a hurdle before commencing a three-week clinical placement in a hospital setting, a subacute or acute environment. Overall, the clinical placement aimed to provide opportunities for experiential learning, skill acquisition, development of clinical reasoning skills and professional socialisation [ 16 , 17 ].

In total, sixteen students participated voluntarily in a focus group of between 60 and 90 min duration; ten of these students also participated in individual interviews of between 30 and 60 min duration, a number sufficient to reach data saturation. Table  1 shows the questions used in the focus groups conducted before clinical placement commenced and the questions for the semi-structured interview questions conducted during clinical placement. Study participants’ undergraduate qualifications included bachelor’s degrees in science, arts and business. A small number of participants had previous healthcare experience (e.g. as healthcare assistants). The participants attended clinical placement in the Melbourne metropolitan, Victorian regional and rural hospital locations.

Data collection

The study comprised two phases. The first phase comprised six focus groups prior to the first clinical placement, and the second phase comprised ten individual semi-structured interviews towards the end of the first clinical placement. Focus groups (with a maximum of four participants) and individual interviews were conducted by the lead author online via Zoom and were audio-recorded. Capping group size to a relatively small number considered diversity of perceptions and opportunities for participants to share their insights and to confirm or contradict their peers, particularly in the online environment [ 18 , 19 ].

Focus groups and interview questions were developed with reference to relevant literature, piloted with volunteer final-year nursing students, and then verified with the coauthors. All focus groups and interviewees received the same structured questions (Table  1 ) to ensure consistency and to facilitate comparison across the placement experience in the development of themes. Selective probing of interviewees’ responses for clarification to gain in-depth responses was undertaken. Nonverbal cues, impressions, or observations were noted.

The lead author was a registered nurse who had a clinical teaching role within the nursing department and was responsible for coordinating clinical placement experiences. To ensure rigour during the data collection process, the lead author maintained a reflective account, exploring her experiences of the discussions, reflecting on her interactions with participants as a researcher and as a clinical educator, and identifying areas for improvement (for instance allowing participants to tell their stories with fewer prompts). These reflections in conjunction with regular discussion with the other authors throughout the data collection period, aided in identifying any researcher biases, feelings and thoughts that possibly influenced the research [ 20 ].

To maintain rigour during the data analysis phase, we adhered to a systematic process involving input from all authors to code the data and to identify, refine and describe the themes and subthemes reported in this work. This comprehensive analytic process, reported in detail in the following section, was designed to ensure that the findings arising from this research were derived from a rigorous approach to analysing the data.

Data analysis

Focus groups and interviews were transcribed using the online transcription service Otter ( https://otter.ai/ ) and then checked and anonymised by the first author. Preliminary data analysis was carried out simultaneously by the first author using thematic content analysis proposed by Braun and Clarke [ 21 ] using NVivo 12 software [ 22 ]. All three authors undertook a detailed reading of the first three transcripts from both the focus groups and interviews and independently identified major themes. This preliminary coding was used as the basis of a discussion session to identify common themes between authors, to clarify sources of disagreement and to establish guidelines for further coding. Subsequent coding of the complete data set by the lead author identified a total of 533 descriptive codes; no descriptive code was duplicated across the themes. Initially, the descriptive codes were grouped into major themes identified from the literature, but with further analysis, themes emerged that were unique to the current study.

The research team met frequently during data analysis to discuss the initial descriptive codes, to confirm the major themes and subthemes, to revise themes on which there was disagreement and to identify any additional themes. Samples of quotes were reviewed by the second and third authors to decide whether these quotes were representative of the identified themes. The process occurred iteratively to refine the thematic categories, to discuss the definitions of each theme and to identify exemplar quotes.

Ethical considerations

The lead author was a clinical teacher and the clinical placement coordinator in the nursing department at the time of the study. Potential risks of perceived coercion and power imbalances were identified because of the lead author’s dual roles as an academic and as a researcher. To manage these potential risks, an academic staff member who was not part of the research study informed students about the study during a face-to-face lecture and ensured that all participants received a plain language statement identifying the lead author’s role and how perceived conflicts of interest would be managed. These included the lead author not undertaking any teaching or assessment role for the duration of the study and ensuring that placement allocations were completed prior to undertaking recruitment for the study. All students who participated in the study provided informed written consent. No financial or other incentives were offered. Approval to conduct the study was granted by the University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee (Ethics ID 1955997.1).

Three main themes emerged describing students’ feelings and perceptions of their first clinical placement. In presenting the findings, before or during has been assigned to participants’ quotes to clarify the timing of students’ perspectives related to the clinical placement.

Major theme 1: Adjusting and managing a raft of feelings

The first theme encompassed the many positive and negative feelings about work-integrated learning expressed by participants before and during their clinical placement. Positive feelings before clinical placement were expressed by participants who were comfortable with the unknown and cautiously optimistic.

I am ready to just go with the flow, roll with the punches (Participant [P]1 before).

Overwhelmingly, however, the majority of feelings and thoughts anticipating the first clinical placement were negatively oriented. Students who expressed feelings of fear, anxiety, lack of knowledge, lack of preparedness, uncertainty about nursing as a career, or strong concerns about being a burden were all classified as conveying negative feelings. These negative feelings were categorised into four subthemes.

Subtheme 1.1 I don’t have enough knowledge

All participants expressed some concerns and anxiety before their first clinical placement. These encompassed concerns about knowledge inadequacy and were linked to a perception of under preparedness. Participants’ fears related to harming patients, responsibility for managing ‘real’ people, medication administration, and incomplete understanding of the language and communication skills within a healthcare setting. Anxiety for many participants merged with the logistics and management of their life during the clinical placement.

I’m scared that they will assume that I have more knowledge than I do (P3 before). I feel quite similar with P10, especially when she said fear of unknown and fear that she might do something wrong (P9 before).

Subtheme 1.2 Worry about judgment, being seen through that lens

Participants voiced concerns that they would be judged negatively by patients or healthcare staff because they perceived that the student nurse belonged to specific social groups related to their cultural background, ethnicity or gender. Affiliation with these groups contributed to students’ sense of self or identity, with students often describing such groups as a community. Before the clinical placement, participants worried that such judgements would impact the support they received on placement and their ability to deliver patient care.

Some older patients might prefer to have nurses from their own background, their own ethnicity, how they would react to me, or if racism is involved (P10 before). I just don’t want to reinforce like, whatever negative perceptions people might have of that community (P16 before).

Participants’ concerns prior to the first clinical placement about judgement or poor treatment because of patients’ preconceived ideas about specific ethnic groups did not eventuate.

I mean, it didn’t really feel like very much of a thing once I was actually there. It is one of those things you stress about, and it does not really amount to anything (P16 during).

Some students’ placement experiences revealed the positive benefits of their cultural background to enhancing patient care. One student affirmed that the placement experience reinforced their commitment to nursing and that this was related to their ability to communicate with patients whose first language was not English.

Yeah, definitely. Like, I can speak a few dialects. You know, I can actually see a difference with a lot of the non-English speaking background people. As soon as you, as soon as they’re aware that you’re trying and you’re trying to speak your language, they, they just open up. Yeah, yes. And it improves the care (P10 during).

However, a perceived lack of judgement was sometimes attributed to wearing the full personal protective equipment required during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant that their personal features were largely obscured. For this reason, it was more difficult for patients to make assumptions or attributions about students’ ethnic or gender identity based on their appearance.

People tend to assume and call us all girls, which was irritating. It was mostly just because all of us were so covered up, no one could see anyone’s faces (P16 during).

Subtheme 1.3 Is nursing really for me?

Prior to their first clinical placement experience, many participants expressed ambivalence about a nursing career and anticipated that undertaking clinical placement could determine their suitability for the profession. Once exposed to clinical placement, the majority of students were completely committed to their chosen profession, with a minority remaining ambivalent or, in rare cases, choosing to leave the course. Not yet achieving full commitment to a nursing career was related to not wishing to work in the ward they had for their clinical placement, while remaining open to trying different specialities.

I didn’t have an actual idea of what I wanted to do after arts, this wasn’t something that I was aiming towards specifically (P14 before). I think I’m still not 100%, but enough to go on, that I’m happy to continue the course as best as I can (P11 during).

Subtheme 1.4 Being a burden

Before clinical placement, participants had concerns about being burdensome and how this would affect their clinical placement experiences.

If we end up being a burden to them, an extra responsibility for them on top of their day, then we might not be treated as well (P10 before).

A sense of burden remained a theme during the clinical placement for participants for the first five to seven days, after which most participants acknowledged that their role became more active. As students contributed more productively to their placement, their feelings of being a burden reduced.

Major theme 2: Sinking or swimming

The second major theme, sinking or swimming, described participants’ expectations about a successful placement experience and identified themes related to students’ successes (‘swimming’) or difficulties (‘sinking’) during their placement experience. Prior to clinical placement, without a realistic preview of what the experience might entail, participants were uncertain of their role, hoped for ‘nice’ supervising nurses and anticipated an observational role that would keep them afloat.

I will focus on what I want to learn and see if that coincides with what is expected, I guess (P15 before).

During the clinical placement, the reality was very different, with a sense of sinking. Participants discovered, some with shock, that they were expected to participate actively in the healthcare team.

I got the sense that they were not going to muck around, and, you know, they’re ‘gonna’ use the free labour that came with me (P1 during).

Adding to the confusion about the expected placement experience, participants believed that healthcare staff were unclear about students’ scope of practice for a postgraduate entry-to-practice degree, creating misalignment between students’ and supervising nurses’ expectations.

It seems to me like the educators don’t really seem to have a clear picture of what the scope is, and what is actually required or expected of us (P10 during).

In exploring perceived expectations of the clinical placement and the modifying effect of placement on initial expectations, three subthemes were identified: translation to practice is overwhelming, trying to find the rhythm or jigsaw pieces, and individual agency.

Subtheme 2.1 Translation to practice is overwhelming

Before clinical placement, participants described concerns about insufficient knowledge to enable them to engage effectively with the placement experience.

If I am doing an assessment understanding what are those indications and why I would be doing it or not doing it at a certain time (P1 before).

Integrating and applying theoretical content while navigating an unfamiliar clinical environment created a significant gap between theory and practice during clinical placement. As the clinical placement experience proceeded and initial fears dissipated, students became more aware of applying their theoretical knowledge in the clinical context.

We’re learning all this theory and clinical stuff, but then we don’t really have a realistic idea of what it’s like until we’re kind of thrown into it for three weeks (P10 during).

Subtheme 2.2 Trying to find the rhythm or the jigsaw pieces

Before clinical placement, participants described learning theory and clinical skills with contextual unfamiliarity. They had the jigsaw pieces but did not know how to assemble it; they had the music but did not know the final song. When discussing their expectations about clinical placement, the small number of participants with a healthcare background (e.g. as healthcare assistants) proposed realistic answers, whereas others struggled to answer or cited stories from friends or television. With a lack of context, feelings of unpreparedness were exacerbated. Once in the clinical environment, participants further emphasised that they could not identify what they needed to know to successfully prepare for clinical placement.

It was never really pieced together. We’ve learned bits and pieces, and then we’re putting it together ourselves (P8 during). On this course I feel it was this is how you do it, but I did not know how it was supposed to be played, I did not know the rhythm (P4 during).

Subtheme 2.3 Individual agency

Participants’ individual agency, their attitude, self-efficacy, and self-motivation affected their clinical placement experiences. Participant perceptions in advance of the clinical placement experience remained consistent with their perspectives following clinical placement. Before clinical placement, participants who were highly motivated to learn exhibited a growth mindset [ 23 ] and planned to be proactive in delivering patient care. During their clinical placement, initially positive students remained positive and optimistic about their future. Participants who believed that their first clinical placement role would be largely observational and were less proactive about applying their knowledge and skills identified boredom and a lack of learning opportunities on clinical placement.

A shadowing position, we don’t have enough skills and authority to do any work, not do any worthwhile skills (P3 before). I thought it would be a lot busier, because we’re limited with our scope, so there’s not much we can do, it’s just a bit slower than I thought (P12 during).

Individual agency appears to influence a successful first clinical placement; other factors may also be implicated but were not the focus of this study. Further research exploring the relationships between students’ age, life experience, resilience, individual agency, and the use of coping strategies during a first clinical placement would be useful.

Major theme 3: The reality of navigating placement relationships

The third main theme emphasised the reality of navigating clinical placement relationships and explored students’ relationships with healthcare staff, patients, and peers. Before clinical placement, many participants, especially those with healthcare backgrounds, expressed fears about relationships with supervising nurses. They perceived that the dynamics of the team and the healthcare workplace might influence the support they received. Several participants were nervous about attending placement on their own without peers for support, especially if the experience was challenging. Participants identified expectations of being mistreated, believing that it was unavoidable, and prepared themselves to not take it personally.

For me it’s where we’re going to land, are we going to be in a supportive, kind of nurturing environment, or is it just kind of sink or swim? (P5 before). If you don’t really trust them, you’re nervous the entire time and you’ll be like what if I get it wrong (P16 before).

Despite these concerns, students strongly emphasised the value of relationships during their first clinical placement, with these perceptions unchanged by their clinical placement experience. Where relationships were positive, participants felt empowered to be autonomous, and their self-confidence increased.

You get that that instant reaction from the patients. And that makes you feel more confident. So that really got me through the first week (P14 during). I felt like I was intruding, then as I started to build a bit of rapport with the people, and they saw that I was around, I don’t feel that as much now (P1 during).

Such development hinged on the receptiveness and support of supervising nurses, the team on the ward, and patients and could be hindered by poor relationships.

He was the old-style buddy nurse in his fifties, every time I questioned him, he would go ssshh, just listen, no questions, it was very stressful (P10 during). It depends whether the buddy sees us as an extra pair of hands, or we’re learners (P11 during).

Where students experienced poor behaviour from supervising nurses, they described a range of emotional responses to these interactions and also coping strategies including avoiding unfriendly staff and actively seeking out those who were more inclusive.

If they weren’t very nice, it wouldn’t be very enjoyable and if they didn’t trust you, then it would be a bit frustrating, that like I can do this, but you won’t let me (P12 during). If another nurse was not nice to me, and I was their buddy, I would literally just not buddy with them and go and follow whoever was nice to me (P4 during).

Relationships with peers were equally important; students on clinical placement with peers valued the shared experience. In contrast, students who attended clinical placement alone at a regional or rural hospital felt disconnected from the opportunities that learning with peers afforded.

Our research explored the emotional responses and perceptions of preparedness of postgraduate entry-to-practice nursing students prior to and during their first clinical placement. In this study, we described how the perceptions of nursing students remained consistent or were modified by their clinical placement experiences. Our analysis of students’ experiences identified three major themes: adjusting and managing a raft of feelings; sinking or swimming; and the reality of navigating placement relationships. We captured similar themes identified in the literature; however, our study also identified novel aspects of nursing students’ experiences of their first clinical placement.

The key theme, adjusting and managing a raft of feelings, which encapsulates anxiety before clinical placement, is consistent with previous research. This theme included concerns in communicating with healthcare staff and managing registered nurses’ negative attitudes and expectations, in addition to an academic workload [ 11 , 24 ]. Concerns not previously identified in the literature included a fear of judgement or discrimination by healthcare staff or patients that might impact the reputation of marginalised communities. Fortunately, these initial fears largely dissipated during clinical placement. Some students discovered that a diverse cultural background was an asset during their clinical placement. Although these initial fears were ameliorated by clinical placement experiences, evidence of such fears before clinical placement is concerning. Further research to identify appropriate support for nursing students from culturally diverse or marginalised communities is warranted. For example, a Finnish study highlighted the importance of mentoring culturally diverse students, creating a pedagogical atmosphere during clinical placement and integrating cultural diversity into nursing education [ 25 ].

Preclinical expectations of being mistreated can be viewed as an unavoidable phenomenon for nursing students [ 26 ]. The existing literature highlights power imbalances and hierarchical differences within the healthcare system, where student nurses may be marginalised, disrespected, and ignored [ 9 , 27 , 28 ]. During their clinical placement, students in our study reported unintentional incivility by supervising nurses: feeling not wanted, ignored, or asked to remain quiet by supervising nurses who were unfriendly or highly critical. These findings were similar to those of Thomas et al.’s [ 29 ] UK study and were particularly heightened at the beginning of clinical placement. Several students acknowledged that nursing staff fatigue from a high turnover of students on their ward and the COVID-19 pandemic could be contributing factors. In response to such incivility, students reported decreased self-confidence and described becoming quiet and withdrawing from active participation with their patients. Students oriented their behaviour towards repetitive low-level tasks, aiming to please and help their supervising nurse, to the detriment of learning opportunities. Fortunately, these incidents did not appear to impact nursing students’ overall experience of clinical placement. Indeed, students found positive experiences with different supervising nurses and their own self-reflection assisted with coping. Other active strategies to combat incivility identified in the current study that were also identified by Thomas et al. [ 29 ] included avoiding nurses who were uncivil, asking to work with nurses who were ‘nice’ to them, and seeking out support from other staff as a coping strategy. The nursing students in our study were undertaking a postgraduate entry-to-practice qualification and already had an undergraduate degree. The likely greater levels of experience and maturity of this cohort may influence their resilience when working with unsupportive supervising nurses and identifying strategies to manage challenging situations.

The theory-practice gap emerged in the theme of sinking or swimming. A theory-practice gap describes the perceived dissonance between theoretical knowledge and expectations for the first clinical placement, as opposed to the reality of the experience, and has been reported in previous studies (see, for instance, 24 , 30 , 31 , 32 ). Existing research has shown that when the first clinical placement does not meet inexperienced student nurses’ expectations, a disconnect between theory and practice occurs, creating feelings of being lost and insecure within the new environment, potentially impacting students’ motivation and risk of attrition [ 19 , 33 ]. The current study identified further areas exacerbating the theory-practice gap. Before the clinical placement, students without a healthcare background lacked context for their learning. They lacked understanding of nurses’ shift work and were apprehensive about applying clinical skills learned in the classroom. Hence, some students were uncertain if they were prepared for their first clinical placement or even how to prepare, which increased their anxiety. Prior research has demonstrated that applying theoretical knowledge more seamlessly during clinical placement was supported when students knew what to expect [ 6 ]. For instance, a Canadian study exposed students as observers to the healthcare setting before starting clinical placement, enabling early theory to practice connections that minimised misconceptions and false assumptions during clinical placement [ 34 ].

In the current study, the theory-practice gap was further exacerbated during clinical placement, where healthcare staff were confused about students’ scope of practice and the course learning objectives and expectations in a postgraduate entry-to-practice nursing qualification. The central booking system for clinical placements classifies first-year nursing students who participated in this study as equivalent to second-year undergraduate nursing students. Such a classification could create a misalignment between clinical educators’ expectations and their delivery of education versus students’ actual learning needs and capacity [ 3 , 31 ]. Additional communication to healthcare partners is warranted to enhance understanding of the scope of practice and expectations of a first-year postgraduate entry-to-practice nursing student. Educating and empowering students to communicate their learning needs within their scope of practice is also required.

Our research identified a link between students’ personality traits or individual agency and their first clinical placement experience. The importance of a positive orientation towards learning and the nursing profession in preparedness for clinical placement has been highlighted in previous studies [ 31 ]. Students’ experience of their first clinical placement in our study appeared to be strongly influenced by their mindset [ 23 ]. Some students demonstrated motivation to learn, were happy to ‘roll with the punches’, yet remain active in their learning requirements, whereas others perceived their role as observational and expected supervising nurses to provide learning opportunities. Students who anticipated a passive learning approach prior to their first clinical placement reported boredom, limited activity, and lack of opportunities during their first clinical placement. These students could have a lowered sense of self-efficacy, which may lead to a greater risk of doubt, stress, and reduced commitment to the profession [ 35 ]. Self-efficacy theory explores self-perceived confidence and competence around people’s beliefs in their ability to influence events, which is associated with motivation and is key to nursing students progressing in their career path confidently [ 35 , 36 ]. In the current study, students who actively engaged in their learning process used strategies such as self-reflection and sought support from clinical educators, peers and family. Such active approaches to learning appeared to increase their resilience and motivation to learn as they progressed in their first clinical placement.

Important relationships with supervising nurses, peers, or patients were highlighted in the theme of the reality of navigating placement relationships. This theme links with previous research findings about belongingness. Belongingness is a fundamental human need and impacts students’ behaviour, emotions, cognitive processes, overall well-being, and socialisation into the profession [ 37 , 38 ]. Nursing students who experience belongingness feel part of a team and are more likely to report positive experiences. Several students in the current study described how feeling part of a team improved self-confidence and empowered work-integrated learning. Nonetheless, compared with previous literature (see for instance, 2), working as a team and belongingness were infrequent themes. Such infrequency could be related to the short duration of the clinical placement. In shorter clinical placements, nursing students learn a range of technical skills but have less time to develop teamwork skills and experience socialisation to the profession [ 29 , 39 ].

Positive relationships with supervising nurses appeared fundamental to students’ experiences. Previous research has shown that in wards with safe psycho-social climates, where the culture tolerates mistakes, regarding them as learning opportunities, a pedagogical atmosphere prevails [ 25 , 39 ]. Whereas, if nursing students experience insolent behaviours or incivility, this not only impacts learning it can also affect career progression [ 26 ]. Participants who felt safe asking questions were given responsibility, had autonomy to conduct skills within their scope of practice and thrived in their learning. This finding aligns with previous research affirming that a welcoming and supportive clinical placement environment, where staff are caring, approachable and helpful, enables student nurses to flourish [ 36 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. Related research highlights that students’ perception of a good clinical placement is linked to participation within the community and instructor behaviour over the quality of the clinical environment and opportunities [ 27 , 28 ]. Over a decade ago, a large European study found that the single most important element for students’ clinical learning was the supervisory relationship [ 39 ]. In our study, students identified how supervising nurses impacted their emotions and this was critical to their experience of clinical placement, rather than how effective they were in their teaching, delivery of feedback, or their knowledge base.

Students’ relationships with patients were similarly important for a successful clinical placement. Before the clinical placement, students expressed anxiety and fears in communicating and interacting with patients, particularly if they were dying or acutely unwell, which is reflective of the literature [ 2 , 10 , 11 ]. However, during clinical placement, relationships with patients positively impacted nursing students’ experiences, especially at the beginning when they felt particularly vulnerable in a new environment. Towards the end of clinical placement, feelings of incompetence, nervousness and uncertainty had subsided. Students were more active in patient care, which increased self-confidence, empowerment, and independence, in turn further improving relationships with patients and creating a positive feedback loop [ 36 , 42 , 43 ].

Limitations

This study involved participants from one university and a single course, thus limiting the generalisability of the results. Thus, verification of the major themes identified in this research in future studies is needed. Nonetheless, the purpose of this study was to explore in detail the way in which the experiences of clinical placement for student nurses modified initial emotional responses towards undertaking placement and their perceptions of preparedness. Participants in this study undertook their clinical placement in a variety of different hospital wards in different specialties, which contributed to the rigour of the study in identifying similar themes in nursing students’ experiences across diverse placement contexts.

This study explored the narratives of first-year nursing students undertaking a postgraduate entry-to-practice qualification on their preparedness for clinical placement. Exploring students’ changing perspectives before and during the clinical placement adds to extant knowledge about nursing students’ emotional responses and perceptions of preparedness. Our research highlighted the role that preplacement emotions and expectations may have in shaping nursing students’ clinical placement experiences. Emerging themes from this study highlighted the importance students placed on relationships with peers, patients, and supervising nurses. Significant anxiety and other negative emotions experienced by nursing students prior to the first clinical placement suggests that further research is needed to explore the impact of contextual learning to scaffold students’ transition to the clinical environment. The findings of this research also have significant implications for educational practice. Additional educational support for nursing students prior to entering the clinical environment for the first time might include developing students’ understanding of the clinical environment, such as through increasing students’ understanding of the different roles of nurses in the clinical context through pre-recorded interviews with nurses. Modified approaches to simulated teaching prior to the first clinical placement would also be useful to increase the emphasis on students applying their learning in a team-based, student-led context, rather than emphasising discrete clinical skill competencies. Finally, increasing contact between students and university-based educators throughout the placement would provide further opportunities for students to debrief, to receive support and to manage some of the negative emotions identified in this study. Further supporting the transition to the first clinical placement could be fundamental to reducing the theory-practice gap and allaying anxiety. Such support is crucial during their first clinical placement to reduce attrition and boost the nursing workforce.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the conditions of our ethics approval but may be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request and subject to permission from the Human Research Ethics Committee.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the first-year nursing students who participated in this study and generously shared their experiences of undertaking their first clinical placement.

No funding was received for this study.

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Jennifer M. Weller-Newton

Present address: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Canberra, Kirinari Drive, Bruce, Canberra, ACT, 2617, Australia

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Department of Nursing, The University of Melbourne, Grattan St, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

Philippa H. M. Marriott

Department of Rural Health, The University of Melbourne, Grattan St, Shepparton, VIC, 3630, Australia

Present address: Department of Medical Education, Melbourne Medical School, The University of Melbourne, Grattan St, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

Katharine J. Reid

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All authors made a substantial contribution to conducting the research and preparing the manuscript for publication. P.M., J.W-N. and K.R. conceptualised the research and designed the study. P.M. undertook the data collection, and all authors were involved in thematic analysis and interpretation. P.M. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, K.R. undertook a further revision and all authors contributed to subsequent versions. All authors approved the final version for submission. Each author is prepared to take public responsibility for the research.

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Marriott, P.H.M., Weller-Newton, J.M. & Reid, K.J. Preparedness for a first clinical placement in nursing: a descriptive qualitative study. BMC Nurs 23 , 345 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-01916-x

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Research ability and research motivation of postgraduate nursing students in traditional Chinese medicine colleges

Jia‐hui zhang.

1 School of Nursing, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou China

Shu‐Qin Pang

Guan‐ming wang, zong‐ting luo, xue‐pei hong, xin‐yu li, associated data.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

To investigate the relationship between research ability and research motivation of postgraduate nursing students in traditional Chinese medicine colleges and identify other factors that may have an impact on the research ability of postgraduate nursing students.

A cross‐sectional electronic survey was used to collect data from 191 postgraduate nursing students.

A total of 191 postgraduate nursing students from seven traditional Chinese medicine colleges were investigated from October to November 2020 using self‐rated scales for research ability and research motivation. The relationship between the variables affecting the research ability of postgraduate nursing students in traditional Chinese medicine colleges was determined.

There was a positive correlation between the score of self‐rated research ability and research motivation among 191 postgraduate nursing students in traditional Chinese medicine colleges. Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that grade, research motivation, age and active participation in class discussions were the main factors affecting the self‐rated research ability.

The self‐rated research ability of postgraduate nursing students in traditional Chinese medicine colleges is positively correlated with research motivation. According to the research motivation orientation, adopting targeted training methods and establishing correct professional understanding may improve the research ability of postgraduate nursing students.

1. INTRODUCTION

The cultivation of nursing research ability has been recognized as a significant challenge worldwide (Ballesteros‐Rodriguez et al.,  2020 ; Powers,  2020 ; Spoelstra et al., 2018 ). However, the literature indicated that research ability in the field of nursing continued to be inadequate worldwide (Chen et al.,  2019 ; Hu et al.,  2019 ; Segrott et al., 2006 ). As the main force of nursing research, postgraduate nursing students are the key trainees in nursing education (Bruce et al.,  2019 ; Yan et al.,  2019 ). Their research ability has a direct impact on the development of nursing. As a result, many nursing schools developed the research ability and output of postgraduate nursing students (Phillips,  2014 ; Segrott et al., 2006 ). At present, the research ability of postgraduate nursing students is uneven (Liao et al.,  2015 ; Wang et al.,  2017 ). In addition, interest of postgraduate nursing students in pursuing scientific careers has declined markedly (Bruce et al.,  2019 ; Chang & Ramnanan,  2015 ). It is urgent to know what motivates or discourages postgraduate nursing students in their consideration for conducting research in order to prevent their research ability declining (Li et al.,  2019 ; Ommering et al.,  2018 ; Ommering et al., 2020 ). Research motivation is the psychological motivation that drives researchers to actively participate in research activities and has the functions of activating, maintaining and regulating research behaviours. High levels of motivation can trigger and sustain individuals' efforts to achieve their goals (Chen et al.,  2020 ; Ji,  2013 ; Peng & Gao,  2019 ). Considering that research ability is the core competence of postgraduate nursing students in scientific research exploration. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the relationship between research ability and research motivation. In this study, self‐rated scales were used to measure the research ability and research motivation of postgraduate nursing students in order to further explore the relationship between them.

2. BACKGROUND

Over the past three decades, many countries and organizations have worked together to develop and enhance the research ability of nursing discipline (O'Byrne & Smith,  2011 ; Turjanica et al.,  2013 ). Nursing research ability refers to the knowledge, skills and experience necessary for an individual to carry out nursing research activities in a given environment (Qiu et al.,  2019 ), including the following: (i) Systematic review of clinical experience and literature to identify research able issues and develop innovative research issues related to nursing. (ii) Collecting, analysing and interpreting the relevant data. (iii) The knowledge accumulated in this way is used to solve problems creatively (Pan & Cheng,  2011 ).

In the field of nursing, research ability mainly focusses on clinical nurses and undergraduates. At present, many barriers have been identified that affect clinical nurses or undergraduates to carry out research exploration and improve their research ability. Personal barriers include lack of research knowledge (Corchon et al., 2011 ; Higgins et al.,  2010 ), nurses’ attitudes (Edwards et al.,  2009 ; Timmins et al.,  2012 ), lack of interest (Akerjordet et al.,  2012 ), lack of critical thinking (Chen et al.,  2020 ), lack of confidence (McKee et al.,  2017 ; Timmins et al.,  2012 ) and need for research skills (Caldwell et al.,  2017 ; Comiskey et al.,  2015 ). In order to improve the research ability, a large number of researchers took a lot of interventions, such as implementing relevant policies, improving course content, establishing training models and so on, but none of them can significantly improve the limited nursing research ability (McKee et al.,  2017 ; Powers,  2020 ; Zhang et al.,  2020 ). It is necessary to conduct more research on how to improve nursing research ability (Chen et al.,  2019 ; O'Byrne & Smith,  2011 ).

Postgraduate nursing students are not only the future health care providers, but also the main force of nursing science research (Abuhammad et al.,  2019 ; Wu et al.,  2019 ). It is one of the emphases of teaching reform to improve the research ability of postgraduate nursing students, help students be familiar with research and inspire their enthusiasm. According to the literature, the factors affecting research ability of postgraduate nursing students can be roughly divided into intelligence factors and non‐intelligence factors. Non‐intelligence factors include grade (Wang et al.,  2019 ), source of students (Chang et al.,  2018 ), self‐efficacy of nursing research (Luo et al., 2020 ), literature reading (Tian,  2016 ), research experience (Li et al.,  2019 ) and so on. More and more attention has been paid to the research ability of postgraduate nursing students, which leads nursing educators to pay special attention to it and related factors.

As a non‐intellectual factor, research motivation is the internal power that drives people to carry out research activities to meet certain needs and achieve goals (Ji,  2013 ). According to motivation theory, research motivation can be divided into intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and failure avoidance motivation. Different types and intensities of research motivation directly affect individual research behaviour (Deemer et al.,  2010 ; Smith et al.,  2014 ). Existing researches were reported on the close relationship between motivation and research productivity among scholars in economics and other disciplines (Ballesteros‐Rodriguez et al.,  2020 ; Horodnic & Zait, 2015 ; Stupnisky et al.,  2019 ). Research ability is the basic skill of scientific exploration and the foundation of research productivity. This suggests that there may be a direct relationship between research ability and research motivation. At present, research pointed out that there was a correlation between clinical nurses' research ability and research motivation (Fan & Wu,  2019 ), but this finding was not verified in postgraduate nursing students in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) colleges. The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between the research ability and research motivation of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges by self‐rated scales (This survey measured the self‐rated research ability of postgraduate nursing students, hereinafter referred to as the research ability), so as to provide a basis for reforming the education of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges and improving their research ability. It addresses the following two research questions:

2.1. Research question 1

What is the research ability level of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges?

2.2. Research question 2

What is the relationship between demographic characteristics, different types of research motivation and research ability?

3.1. Design

This study is a descriptive quantitative study to analyse the relationship between the research ability and research motivation and investigate the factors affecting the research ability of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges.

3.2. Sample and setting

The study investigated academic, professional and on‐the‐job postgraduate nursing students from seven TCM colleges at the same level by convenience sampling. A total of 191 postgraduate nursing students participated in this study, including 83 academic postgraduates, 66 professional postgraduates and 42 on‐the‐job postgraduates.

In China, there are three types of postgraduate nursing students, namely academic postgraduates, professional postgraduates and on‐the‐job postgraduates. They all need to complete one thesis in three years of graduate study to earn a master's degree. The difference is that academic and professional postgraduates are full‐time learning, that is, under the guidance of supervisors, strictly following the school schedule, studying in school or doing clinical practice. However, on‐the‐job postgraduates receive part‐time learning. In their first year of graduate study, they complete their graduate courses. In the next two years, they have to work while implementing their graduation projects. During this period, if they encounter difficulties, the supervisors will give guidance timely to help them complete the projects smoothly and improve their research ability. In addition to courses, postgraduate nursing students also need to actively participate in extracurricular activities, such as expert lectures or academic competitions organized by schools or hospitals, to further improve their comprehensive abilities. As a learning task, some TCM colleges will set minimum limits on the number of extracurricular activities they participate in each year, and even require them to keep detailed records of their learning.

3.3. Data collection

This study selected the data of 191 postgraduate nursing students from seven TCM colleges from October to November 2020. Used the network questionnaire survey method, the researchers distributed the link of the questionnaire, research purpose, significance and notes to the teachers of each school who would assist in the survey and entrusted the teacher to inform above contents to the postgraduate nursing students of their schools. Postgraduate nursing students who agreed to assist in the study were asked to complete the questionnaire anonymously, and the questionnaire can be submitted directly to the system only after all the questions in the questionnaire were answered. The questionnaire took 20–25 minutes to complete without giving students any compensation. Whether students fill in the questionnaire or not had no effect on their course score. The survey period ended one month later after the questionnaire was distributed. The tools included the following:

3.3.1. Social‐demographics

The demographic variable questionnaire was used to collect the data of age, gender, grade, clinical work experience, teaching experience, marital status, acceptance of nursing and type of postgraduates.

3.3.2. Research ability variable Nursing research ability of self‐evaluation questionnaire (NRASQ)

The NRASQ was developed by Pan in 2011 to assess the level of knowledge, skills and experience mastered by nursing staff in research exploration (Pan & Cheng,  2011 ). This questionnaire has 30 items with six dimensions of problem finding (3 items: 1–3), literature review (5 items: 4–8), research design (5 items: 9–13), research practice (6 items: 14–19), data processing (5 items: 20–24) and paper writing (6 items: 25–30). Each item is graded from 0 to 4. Therefore, the total scores of NRASQ range from 0 to 120 with higher scores reflecting stronger the research ability. The content validity and construct validity of the scale have been reported to be acceptable. In Pan's study (2011), the reliability was 0.861 using Cronbach's alpha. Moreover, the goodness‐of‐fit indexes in a confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable values, which were χ 2 / df  = 3.63, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.08 and comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.97. In the present study, the overall Cronbach's alpha for NRASQ was 0.966, with that of the six dimensions ranging from 0.761–0.947.

3.3.3. Research motivation variable The Chinese version research motivation scale (RMS‐C)

The RMS (Deemer et al.,  2010 ) has been widely used for assessing the type of research motivation. Ji ( 2013 ) translated the RMS into Chinese, and the validity and reliability were proved among 249 postgraduate nursing students. This questionnaire has 20 items with three dimensions of intrinsic motivation (9 items: 1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19), failure avoidance motivation (6 items: 2, 5, 8, 14, 16, 18) and extrinsic motivation (5 items: 3, 6, 10, 12, 20). RMS‐C used a 5‐point Likert Scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The item average score for each dimension ranged from 1 to 5. The higher item average score in a particular dimension, the stronger the respondents' tendency to perform in that dimension. The content validity and construct validity of the scale have been reported to be acceptable. In Ji's study (2013), the validity scores of the overall questionnaire and each dimension ranged from 0.71 to 0.91 using a correlation coefficient, and the reliability was 0.88 using Cronbach's alpha. In the present study, the overall Cronbach's alpha for RMS‐C was 0.853, with that of the three dimensions ranging from 0.714–0.905.

3.4. Data analysis

Data were analysed using IBM SPSS22.0, and statistical significance level was defined as p  < .05. Descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages were used to describe postgraduate nursing students' social demographic characteristics. Descriptive statistics including means and standard deviations were used to describe postgraduate nursing students' research ability and research motivation. According to Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, the NRASQ and RMS‐C scores were normally distributed. One‐way ANOVA or independent t test was conducted to examine differences in research ability via social demographic characteristics. Relationship of postgraduate nursing students' research ability and research motivation was calculated using Pearson's correlation analysis. Multiple stepwise regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between significant variables and research ability.

3.5. Ethical considerations

This study was approved by the institutional review board of the investigator's affiliated university (NO: 2020001). Respondents of the study were assured of the anonymity of their responses and that completion of the e‐survey would indicate their consent to participate.

4.1. Characteristics of the respondents

The sample in this study consisted of 191 postgraduate nursing students from seven TCM colleges. Most respondents were female (172, 90.1%), unmarried (121, 63.4%) and with clinical work experience (104, 54.5%). There are 85 postgraduate nursing students in the first grade, 71 in the second grade and 35 in the third grade. Detailed data of the characteristics were presented as frequency and percentage in Table  1 .

Association between the respondents’ characteristics and the research ability ( N  = 191)

The bolded values indicate the level of statistical significance (with p  < .05) between the independent and dependent variables.

According to the homogeneity‐of‐variance test results, LSD method was used for pair comparison, and the results showed that: ① Compared with the research ability of postgraduate nursing students aged less than 25 years old, p  < .05; ② Compared with the research ability of first grader postgraduate nursing students, p  < .05; ③ Compared with the research ability of second grade postgraduate nursing students, p  < .05; ④ Compared with on‐the‐job postgraduate nursing students, p  < .05.

Abbreviation: SD , standard deviation.

4.2. Research ability and research motivation scores of respondents

The average NRASQ total score of all respondents was (66.74 ± 17.20) (with the average score/item = 2.22 ± 0.57). Regarding the six dimensions of the NRASQ, the average score was (12.02 ± 3.02) (with the average score/item = 2.40 ± 0.60) in literature review dimension, (14.23 ± 4.33) (with the average score/item = 2.37 ± 0.72) in paper writing dimension, (13.08 ± 3.74) (with the average score/item = 2.18 ± 0.62) in the research practice dimension, (10.75 ± 3.49) (with the average score/item = 2.15 ± 0.70) in the research design, (6.43 ± 1.84) (with the average score/item = 2.14 ± 0.61) in the problem finding and (10.23 ± 3.51) (with the average score/item = 2.05 ± 0.70) in the data processing dimension. It could be seen that respondents in this study had strong literature review ability, but weak data analysis ability.

The average RMS‐C total score of all respondents was (68.47 ± 8.01). Regarding the three dimensions of the RMS‐C, the average score was (21.62 ± 2.86) (with the average score/item = 3.60 ± 0.48) in failure avoidance motivation, (16.77 ± 2.49) (with the average score/item = 3.36 ± 0.50) in extrinsic motivation and (30.12 ± 3.68) (with the average score/item = 3.35 ± 0.41) in intrinsic motivation. Among the respondents, 55.5% of the postgraduate nursing students had the highest item average score in failure avoidance motivation, indicating that they were dominated by failure avoidance motivation, while 27.7% and 21.2% of the postgraduate nursing students were respectively, dominated by extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

4.3. Influence of general characteristics on the scores of research ability of respondents

There were statistically significant relationships between the research ability and some general characteristics, such as age, grade, clinical work experience, marital status, type of postgraduates, participation in extracurricular activities every week, active participation in class discussions during undergraduate study and active participation in class discussions during postgraduate study ( p  < .05), as shown in Table  1 .

4.4. Correlation coefficients between respondents’ research ability and research motivation

The research ability of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges was positively correlated with research motivation. Moreover, a positive correlation existed between each dimension of research ability and research motivation ( p  < .05), as shown in Table  2 .

Correlation coefficients between respondents’ research ability and research motivation

* indicates the level of statistical significance (with P < .05) between the independent and dependent variables.

4.5. Multiple stepwise regression analysis of the research ability of respondents

All of the statistically significant variables found in the univariate analysis were selected as independent variables to determine the predictors of research ability. For the regression analysis, the factors of grade level, research motivation, age, clinical work experience, marital status, type of postgraduates, active participation in extracurricular activities, active participation in class discussions during undergraduate study and active participation in class discussions during postgraduate study were selected as the standard factors. The results of the stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that there were four predictors of research ability, which were grade level (ß = 0.45, p  < .001), research motivation (ß = 0.20, p  = .001), age (ß = −0.23, p  < .001) and active participation in class discussions during postgraduate study (ß = −0.16, p  = .007), and they accounted for 39% of the total variance ( F  = 29.80, p  < .001), as shown in Table  3 .

Multiple stepwise regression analysis of factors influencing the research ability of respondents ( N  = 191)

The bolded values indicate the level of statistical significance (with p  < .01) between the independent and dependent variables.

5. DISCUSSION

To our knowledge, this was the first study to explore the research ability and research motivation of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges. We found a positive correlation between research ability and research motivation and identified several social‐demographics affecting research ability. We found that the stronger the intrinsic motivation, the higher the grade, the more active the participation in class and the stronger the research ability of postgraduate nursing students, which further confirmed the previous studies (Areepattamannil,  2014 ; Fischer et al., 2019 ; Ryan,  2014 ; Smith et al.,  2014 ; Wang et al.,  2019 ). However, this study also showed a positive correlation between extrinsic motivation, failure avoidance motivation and research ability, and the phenomenon that the younger the postgraduate nursing students, the stronger the research ability, which was inconsistent with previous studies. These broke down the stereotype and provided suggestions for the reform of graduate nursing education.

5.1. The research ability of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges

This study showed that the score of research ability of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges was (66.74 ± 17.20), which was equivalent to the average level of ones in 22 medical schools in 2013 (Liao et al.,  2015 ). However, the average score of data processing ability was only (2.05 ± 0.70), which was lower than the results of Tian ( 2016 ), indicating that the research ability of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges need to be improved. Enlighten educators to improve postgraduate nursing students' practical ability of data analysis and processing, strengthen operational training and enrich teaching content.

5.2. Correlation analysis between research ability and research motivation

Consistent with previous studies, the stronger the intrinsic motivation, the more conducive to the improvement of research ability (Fischer et al., 2019 ; Ryan,  2014 ). Intrinsic motivation means that researchers are interested in the research itself and the satisfaction brought by research activities can motivate them to continue exploring (Liu & Shi,  2015 ). Intrinsic motivation can stimulate researchers' innovative thinking and improve their ability to find problems and solve practical difficulties (Fischer et al., 2019 ).

Extrinsic motivation refers to the fundamental reason that motivates researchers to continue their exploration, not the enthusiasm for the research itself, but the influence of external factors, such as the recognition and respect of others, research tasks and material rewards (Smith et al.,  2014 ). This study showed that the stronger the extrinsic motivation, the higher the research ability of postgraduate nursing students, which was inconsistent with the previous studies (Horodnic & Zait, 2015 ; Peng & Gao,  2019 ). The consideration was related to the kind of extrinsic motivators. Amabile ( 1997 ) pointed out that the influence of extrinsic motivators on research creativity varied with its characteristics of control and information. Controlling extrinsic motivators have a destructive effect on creativity. While informational extrinsic motivators can promote creativity. In this study, extrinsic motivation was mainly to obtain external recognition and rewards. Postgraduate nursing students were told that they would be rewarded when they successfully completed a particular task. This reward was an informational extrinsic motivator that promoted creativity and positively predicted research ability.

In this study, avoidance motivation was positively correlated with research ability. This was not consistent with previous study (Mueller and Kamdar, 2011 ). It may be related to the cultural background and work experience. As students of TCM colleges, postgraduate nursing students have been trained in TCM dialectical thinking for a long time. They have a deep understanding of the twists and turns of knowledge learning. As a result, they focus on long‐term success rather than the small mistakes in the current learning process that plague them. Instead, they spend more time and energy seeking breakthroughs, reducing procrastination and taking the time to enrich themselves (Schodl et al., 2018 ). In addition, previous studies only included full‐time postgraduate students in ordinary universities (Fan & Wu,  2019 ; Ji,  2013 ), whereas this study included full‐time postgraduate nursing students and on‐the‐job postgraduate nursing students. Generally speaking, on‐the‐job postgraduate nursing students have several years of clinical work or teaching experiences and have a deeper understanding of what it means to be a nurse. Nurses belong to a clinical practice group that attend to critically ill patients facing crisis (De Simone et al.,  2018 ). A small mistake in the workplace may have a big impact. Therefore, on‐the‐job postgraduate nursing students pay more attention to the learning process, summarize their experience and avoid mistakes and failures in their future work. Educators should enhance students' understanding of their profession, guide students to correctly deal with the process and pressure of scientific research and increase investment to promote research ability.

5.3. Social‐demographics factors affecting research ability

The research ability of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges in a low age group was strong. This finding was inconsistent with the results of Yang ( 2017 ). The consideration was related to the weak research foundation in the early stage and the insufficient research investment in the later stage. Most of postgraduate nursing students in a low age group were fresh graduates, who had received systematic research courses and had a relatively good research foundation. Literature showed that in the course of study, students can participate in the process of research topic selection, research design and paper report in the form of group, and better master the scientific knowledge (Luo et al., 2020 ; Zhang et al.,  2016 ). At the same time, by writing papers, the theoretical knowledge was reasonably applied to research practice, which improved the students' scientific literacy such as team cooperation ability and information acquisition ability (Guo,  2019 ; Ma et al.,  2016 ). For postgraduate nursing students in the high age group, the imperfect early training mechanism for postgraduates in China and the forgetting of knowledge caused by long graduation time would affect their early research foundation (Yan et al., 2019 ; Liao et al.,  2015 ). What's more, in the process of study or research practice, postgraduate nursing students of high age group need to give consideration to family and work, which would undoubtedly reduce their input for scientific research and lead to a decline in research ability. Educators should give more attention and guidance to students in the high age group.

After a long period of training, senior postgraduate students' ability of literature review and data analysis has been improved, and the opportunities to participate in academic exchanges have also been increased. Effective academic exchange is an important skill, which can cultivate the interest of students, widen their knowledge and foster research thinking (Piao & Cui,  2018 ; Stevens et al.,  2019 ). Influenced by traditional education, in China, the teaching form in schools is still dominated by teacher's explanation. The interaction between teachers and students strengthens the ideological collision, gives full play to postgraduate nursing students' subjective initiative, stimulates their enthusiasm for learning and improves their independent thinking ability (Hew & Lo,  2018 ; Presti,  2016 ; Smith et al.,  2014 ). These findings were consistent with previous studies. Educators should teach postgraduate nursing students in accordance with their aptitude. For lower grade students, educators should cultivate their basic ability, increase their interest in scientific research. For senior students, it is important to improve their comprehensive ability and divergent thinking. What's more, educators should focus on teaching methods, encourage students to express their ideas and help them translate theory into practice.

6. LIMITATIONS

This study had several limitations. The convenience sampling method used in this study may lead to a selection bias because the postgraduate nursing students who choose to respond to the survey invitation may be more interested in the scientific research. Furthermore, this cross‐sectional study suggested a correlation between the two variables but cannot lead to a conclusive causal relationship. In addition, although this study tried to select samples from different regions, schools and grades to ensure the scientific nature of the research results. However, the samples cannot be generalized because they may not be a true representation of the population. Thus, replication studies with larger and more diverse samples are needed to confirm these findings.

7. CONCLUSION

The self‐rated research ability of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges is positively correlated with research motivation. It is affected by grade, age and whether students actively participate in class discussions during their postgraduate study. It is suggested that in the training process of postgraduate nursing students in TCM colleges, targeted or individualized training methods should be adopted according to their research motivation to guide them to deal with research pressure rationally and have correct professional understanding. Future researches include exploring which factors mediate the influence of research motivation on research ability. The improvement scheme based on the results is helpful to adjust the research motivation of postgraduate nursing students and improve their research ability.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

JHZ and SQP conceived the idea. JHZ, ZTL, XPH and XYL collected data. JHZ, SQP, LG and GMW analysed and interpreted data. JHZ and SQP wrote the first draft. JHZ, SQP, LG and GMW conducted key revisions to important contents of the manuscript. JHZ and SQP conducted study supervision. All authors have approved the final article to be published.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We appreciate postgraduate nursing students from the seven traditional Chinese medicine colleges in China, who participated in this study.

Zhang, J.‐H. , Pang, S.‐Q. , Ge, L. , Wang, G.‐M. , Luo, Z.‐T. , Hong, X.‐P. , & Li, X.‐Y. (2022). Research ability and research motivation of postgraduate nursing students in traditional Chinese medicine colleges . Nursing Open , 9 , 408–417. 10.1002/nop2.1079 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

Research project on major education and teaching reform of undergraduate colleges and universities in Fujian Province in 2019, (Grant/Award Number: FB JG20190024)

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Do Registered Nurses Need a Bachelor's Degree to Secure Their Career?

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For aspiring nurses, choosing which degree to pursue often comes down to time and cost considerations. As a result, many nurses pursue an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), which offers the shortest educational path that can help nurses enter the field quickly.

In addition, the pressure of industry shortages has spurred the demand to train new nurses swiftly through an ADN program. However, do registered nurses (RNs) need a bachelor’s degree to strengthen their career prospects?

Healthcare leaders are increasingly weighing the benefits of establishing the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) as an entry-level requirement for registered nurses, instead of the ADN. This is because a BSN degree develops leadership and critical thinking skills to navigate modern healthcare as it becomes more complex, and research has shown that this degree improves patient outcomes .

Whether a BSN is required or not, taking the initiative to earn this qualification can help nurses stay ahead of industry trends and gain higher roles without roadblocks. Here’s an overview of the advantages of advancing your nursing education.

Download our guide to discover which nursing degree is right for you.

The Shift Toward Nursing Higher Education

Do RNs need a bachelor's degree? Addressing this question can be complex, as the matter goes beyond initial licensure. All U.S. states allow nurses to take licensing exams to become an RN after completing an ADN, but industry associations have been advocating to raise the educational entry requirements for decades.

However, the Pew Health Professions Commission recommended increasing the number of BSN-trained nurses in a report . In 2010, the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice (NACNEP) went a step further, setting a target goal to have two-thirds of the nursing workforce hold bachelor’s degrees.

Since then, the healthcare industry has exceeded that goal, with 71.7 percent of RNs holding a BSN degree or higher as of 2022 , according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

When considering your options, it’s critical to remain aware of trends at the regional, statewide, and organizational levels. Throughout the industry, many healthcare organizations have already enforced their own policies that restrict hiring to registered nurses with at least a BSN degree. With the enactment of the BSN in 10 law in 2019, New York was the first state to require all RNs to obtain a baccalaureate degree or higher within 10 years of licensure . Although other states haven’t followed suit yet, a nationwide shift is a growing possibility—especially in areas with larger talent pools.

Benefits of Earning a Bachelor’s Degree as an RN

While a BSN is entirely optional, earning this degree equips nurses with growth-oriented skills and qualifications. Here are the most beneficial ways a BSN can further your career.

Enhances Patient Care

Associate and baccalaureate programs provide the same clinical foundation, preparing nurses to handle the task-driven aspects of direct care.

“A lot of it is getting confident with your knowledge of the diseases and the patients that you're taking care of, your hospital policies, and procedures,” says Deborah Roy, Director of the RN-to-BS in Nursing degree program at Regis College.

An ADN gives nurses the technical insight and core scientific knowledge to understand patient needs, collect information about their health, and address health issues with patient safety and wellbeing in mind. The additional coursework in a bachelor’s degree nursing program is designed to enhance a nurse's ability to assess, plan, and implement patient care in a more informed manner.

“When you get your bachelor's, you're looking at the theories, the critical thinking, the evidence-based information as to why we are doing things,” says Sharon Higgins, Interim Dean of Regis’s Young School of Nursing.

BSN programs put more emphasis on the conditions surrounding healthcare processes, such as patient education, clinical decision-making, policy development, and community health. As a result, baccalaureate-trained nurses have more opportunities to evaluate ways to improve nursing operations and healthcare access.

“I think that BSN-trained nurses will ultimately be the change agent and real advocate for what's happening at the bedside,” Roy says.

Increases Employment Opportunities

A BSN opens the door to a wider range of nursing professions, such as positions in management, education, and research. Many of these specialized fields require hands-on clinical experience as well as in-depth knowledge of healthcare operations, policies, and ethics.

“You can move up into formal leadership positions, such as nurse managers, directors, care coordinators, and quality management,” Roy says. “Just about anything within the hospital environment.”

RNs with a bachelor’s degree are also in a better position to take advantage of nursing job market trends. Employers typically prefer BSN degree holders for nonentry-level and multidisciplinary roles. As new applications of nursing emerge, baccalaureate-trained RNs can often compete for these roles without the immediate need for more education.

“A lot of the telework jobs are going to want a bachelor's versus the associate, so if they're in a position in life where they want to have more balanced, hybrid work, they'll most likely need a bachelor's for most of those,” Roy adds.

Outpatient clinics and insurance companies are other environments where RNs with a bachelor’s degree are in demand. In these positions with more autonomy, nurses must have the expertise, confidence, and decision-making skills to oversee and improve the patient experience.

Higher Salary Potential

The ability to move up to higher salary ranges is a major benefit of earning a BSN degree. Healthcare organizations that employ associate-trained nurses often restrict their duties and enforce earnings caps. Even with years of nursing experience, you might be unable to earn more at the ADN level despite increases in the cost of living.

Having additional education can qualify nurses for raises and promotions with their current employer and increase their competitiveness in the wider job market. If you want to pursue higher-paying positions in a leadership capacity or in specialized fields, keeping up with industry education standards is crucial to stand out to employers.

Leadership Skill Development

The strong focus on leadership development is one reason healthcare policymakers are encouraging the shift to baccalaureate education. BSN degrees facilitate a more seamless shift to higher-level decision-making by preparing nurses to think about the stakeholders and organizational components of healthcare.

“You learn critical leadership behaviors on how to build teams, how to communicate, and how to deal with things like instability in the workplace,” Roy says.

Through coursework and practical experiences, BSN students gain insight into healthcare systems, quality management techniques, and ethical considerations. The advanced training primes nurses to ask more in-depth questions that aid in improving patient-centric care and driving positive change.

“When you look at our curriculum, we're talking about contemporary topics in nursing,” Roy explains. “What's happening in the news? What's going on with these strikes and with nurses and their patient safety and patient-ratio concerns? We talk about the application of diagnostic measures, but we go into more detail as to what we’re doing this for. How do we interpret this data? How do we apply that to how we're going to care for our patients?”

Three Factors to Consider Before Advancing Your Education

Although a BSN offers numerous benefits, managing the time and financial commitment of a degree program can be challenging. As you explore options, here are important factors to take into consideration when deciding if a BSN program is right for you.

1. Financial Considerations

Cost is a common hurdle for professionals who want to complete a degree, but resources like financial aid can help students reduce out-of-pocket expenses.

Financial aid is available in the form of scholarships, grants, and subsidized loans to people who meet federal standards for need-based support. Aid can come from various sources, including federal and state governments, colleges, private organizations, and employers. Prospective students can look for financial aid that’s specifically allocated for continuing education for RNs, academic achievement, or underrepresented populations.

When paying out of pocket, employment income and tuition reimbursement can also offset education costs. For instance, choosing an affordable part-time BSN program makes it easier to continue earning income while paying for courses at a slower pace. Working for employers who partially or fully cover the cost of related education also allows nurses to advance their skills and pursue higher roles within their current organization.

2. Work-Life Balance

Nursing programs have a reputation for being rigorous. If you’re serious about earning a degree, it’s helpful to have a plan for balancing your work, school, and personal life.

Academic advisors and fellow nurses are indispensable allies for figuring out how to get the most out of your education while staying engaged in other areas of life. Advisors can also offer guidance on managing the curriculum and extracurricular opportunities and tailoring the academic experience to your strengths and interests.

Make sure the program you’re interested in is known for providing strong educational support through career counselors and mentors. Counselors can help nursing students identify passions and career objectives, research specialty areas, and find professional development opportunities. If challenges arise during your education, advisors, and counselors can assist you in making informed decisions that take your long-term goals and personal circumstances into account.

3. Flexible Program Options

BSN degree programs are available in flexible formats to complement a variety of lifestyles. Employed RNs can benefit from part-time enrollment options and online or hybrid courses to accommodate busy schedules.

Remote learning, in particular, offers the convenience of accessing coursework from anywhere, making academic achievement more attainable for working professionals. Night and weekend classes allow even more flexibility, and students have the option to take fewer courses at a time to learn at a comfortable pace.

Regis College’s RN to BS program offers many of these options to support student success, including asynchronous or synchronous online classes. By consulting with former nursing students who have completed BSN programs, you can compare different formats to find out which path will be most advantageous for you.

Take the Next Step Toward Career Advancement

So, do nurses need a bachelor's degree to have a fulfilling career? The answer depends on your personal interests, career aspirations, and state regulations.

If you want more career flexibility, mobility, and income potential, completing a BSN degree is a crucial step in advancing your professional skills. The degree gives RNs more options for pivoting into new branches of nursing and healthcare, especially as the job market evolves.

“There’s never going to be a good time,” Roy says. “But the closer you do it to your ADN program, you're still in school mode and you’ll know how to best manage your time.”

The RN-to-BS in Nursing degree program at Regis College is designed for RNs who want to take their training to the next level. The program lasts 12 to 16 months and is available in online and part-time formats, giving working nurses the flexibility to complete their degrees at a manageable pace.

If you’re interested in applying or requesting more information, contact a Regis admissions counselor for details about the program.

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May 24, 2024

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Incorporating evidence-based practice education in nursing research curriculum of undergraduate nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

Affiliations.

• 1 School of Nursing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210023, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 2 School of Nursing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210023, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 3 School of Nursing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210023, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 4 School of Nursing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210023, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 5 School of Nursing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210023, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
• PMID: 37245347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103671

Aim: To examine the effect of incorporating evidence-based practice (EBP) in Nursing Research curriculum on undergraduate nursing students.

Background: The competence of EBP is essential for nurses and it is an essential task for educators to implement EBP education in nursing students.

Design: A quasi-experimental study.

Methods: Based on Astin's Input-Environment-Outcome model, the study was conducted among 258 third-grade students of a four-year nursing bachelor's program between September through December 2022. The students were divided into two groups. Students in the intervention group received innovative teaching where EBP elements were incorporated in Nursing Research course in a natural, gradual and spiral way, while students in the control group attended conventional teaching. Effect of EBP teaching was examined in terms of students' EBP competence, learning experience and satisfaction and score of team-based research protocol assignment.

Results: Compared with conventional teaching, the innovative teaching characterized by EBP improved students' EBP competence in terms of attitudes and skills and enhanced student's comprehensive ability in nursing research. Students' learning experience and satisfaction were similarly favorable between the two groups.

Conclusions: For undergraduate nursing students, the teaching strategy characterized by EBP is an appropriate and effective way to improve their EBP competence of attitudes and skills, as well as their nursing research ability.

Keywords: Evidence-based practice; Integrated curriculum; Nursing research curriculum; Teaching strategies; Undergraduate nursing students.

Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

• Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate* / methods
• Evidence-Based Nursing / education
• Evidence-Based Practice
• Nursing Research*
• Students, Nursing*

• Open access
• Published: 27 May 2024

Perceptions of attitudes toward statistics among medical undergraduates: insights from a regional medical college in China

• Yupeng Guo 1 ,
• Shengzhong Rong 1 ,
• Jing Dong 1 ,
• Yingying Niu 1 &
• Hongjun Guan 1  

BMC Medical Education volume  24 , Article number:  579 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Among Chinese medical students, medical statistics is often perceived as a formidable subject. While existing research has explored the attitudes of Chinese postgraduate medical students towards statistics and its impact on academic performance, there is a scarcity of studies examining the attitudes of Chinese medical undergraduates on this subject. This study endeavors to scrutinize the attitudes of Chinese medical undergraduates towards statistics, assessing their ramifications on learning achievements, and delving into the influence of demographic factors.

1266 medical undergraduates participated in this study, completing a questionnaire that included SATS-36 and additional queries. Furthermore, an examination was administered at the end of the medical statistics course. The analysis encompassed the SATS score and exam scores, examining both the overall participant population and specific demographic subgroups.

Undergraduate medical students generally exhibit a favorable disposition towards statistics concerning Affect, Cognitive Competence, and Value components, yet harbor less favorable sentiments regarding the Difficulty component of SATS-36, aligning with previous research findings. In comparison to their postgraduate counterparts, undergraduates display heightened enthusiasm for medical statistics. However, they demonstrate a lower cognitive capacity in statistics and tend to underestimate both the value and difficulty of learning statistics. Despite these disparities, undergraduate medical students express a genuine interest in statistics and exhibit a strong dedication to mastering the subject. It is noteworthy that students’ attitudes toward statistics may be influenced by their major and gender. Additionally, there exists a statistically significant positive correlation between learning achievement and the Affect, Cognitive Competence, Value, Interest, and Effort components of the SATS-36, while a negative correlation is observed with the Difficulty component.

Educators should carefully consider the influence of attitudes toward statistics, especially the variations observed among majors and genders when formulating strategies and curricula to enhance medical statistics education.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

Medical statistics is a crucial branch of statistics that encompasses various aspects of medical and biological research, including experiment and trial design, data collection, analysis, and representation. Around the World, medical students are required to take medical statistics courses to acquire the necessary skills and abilities in statistics. These skills play a pivotal role in the professional development of medical practitioners [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Over the past few decades, with the emergence of Evidence-based medicine (EBM), the knowledge and skills in medical statistics have become increasingly important for future doctors [ 2 ].

Considering the importance of medical statistics, numerous studies have revealed that medical students generally view the subject as challenging and experience anxiety when learning about it. Compared to other disciplines in medical training, the majority of students state that the medical statistics course is more challenging. Researchers have attributed this phenomenon to the mathematical properties of statistics, but numerous studies have shown that students’ attitudes toward statistics are important when it comes to learning statistics. Students generally recognize the value and usefulness of statistics, but they also find it difficult to learn. Positive attitudes are positively correlated with course achievement [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ], and additional factors such as demographics [ 13 ], educational backgrounds [ 14 ], and mathematical foundations [ 4 ] may also have an impact on students’ attitudes toward statistics.

In China, medical statistics is a mandatory subject for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical students. A study by Zhang et al. [ 4 ] investigated the attitudes of medical postgraduates toward medical statistics using the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS) [ 15 ]. The findings revealed that Chinese medical students generally held positive attitudes toward statistics, although they perceived medical statistics as a challenging subject. Despite positive correlations between course achievement and attitudes towards medical statistics, students’ attitudes experienced negative changes after completing a statistics course. It’s noteworthy that Zhang et al.‘s study focused on postgraduates in an elite medical college, which is nationally renowned for its academic excellence, leaving a gap in understanding the attitudes of undergraduate medical students in regional medical colleges, which represents the non-renowned and ordinary majority. Compared with the students in elite medical colleges, these medical undergraduates enrolled in regional medical colleges generally demonstrate lower scores in the National College Entrance Examination (the Gaokao), suggesting they may have different capabilities and habits in learning science and technology, so it is necessary and meaningful to find out what attitude they hold towards medical statistics and whether their attitude is different from Zhang et al.‘s results. To address this gap, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in a typical medical college in northeastern China, examining the attitudes of undergraduate medical students towards medical statistics and exploring influencing factors, as well as the association between attitudes and course achievement. The results could contribute to alleviating undergraduates’ anxiety about learning medical statistics and have implications for curriculum design and delivery methods in the class.

Participants

The investigation took place at Mudanjiang Medical University, a regional medical institution situated in Heilongjiang Province, China, in April 2023. The study targeted undergraduate students enrolled in clinical medicine, dentistry, radiology, or nursing majors, specifically those in their second or third academic years. Notably, Chinese students pursuing clinical medicine, dentistry, and radiology undergo a five-year medical training program, culminating in the attainment of a medical bachelor’s degree. Conversely, nursing majors follow a four-year medical training program, leading to the award of a nursing bachelor’s degree. Due to the students with medical degrees and the students with nursing degrees having different characteristics and career prospects, to facilitate result interpretation, we categorized participants into medical undergraduates and nursing undergraduates. Medical statistics was a mandatory course for all the participants of our study, they were mandated to undertake the same medical statistics course. The curriculum of this course encompasses various topics such as descriptive statistics, probability distribution of random variables (normal distribution, t distribution, F distribution, and Chi-square distribution), confidence intervals for mean, hypothesis testing (t-test, analysis of variance, Chi-square test), nonparametric statistics, linear correlation and regression, logistics regression, general experimental design, and the application of SPSS software. Prior to their involvement, participants were thoroughly briefed on the study’s objectives and procedures, and their informed consent was obtained through signed approval documents. Although Chinese law does not mandate ethical approval for this type of study, ethical approval for this study was granted by the School of Public Health of Mudanjiang Medical University.

Instruments

We employed the SATS-36 scale, developed by Schau [ 15 ], to assess students’ attitudes toward medical statistics. The initial version of SATS, termed SATS-28, comprised 28 7-point Likert-type scale items designed to measure four attitude components: Affect (6 items, reflecting students’ emotions regarding statistics), Cognitive Competence (6 items, gauging students’ attitudes toward their intellectual knowledge and skills applied to statistics), Value (9 items, assessing students’ perspectives on the usefulness, relevance, and worth of statistics in personal and professional contexts), and Difficulty (7 items, capturing students’ perceptions of the difficulty of statistics as a subject). Subsequently, Schau [ 16 ] introduced 8 additional items to measure two more attitude components: Interest (4 items, evaluating students’ interest in statistics) and Effort (4 items, quantifying the effort students invest in learning statistics), resulting in the formation of SATS-36. Each item was scored on a scale where higher scores indicated more positive attitudes (1 = “strongly disagree,” 4 = “neither disagree nor agree,” 7 = “strongly agree”). The component scores were computed as the mean of the item scores constituting the respective components. In instances where items featured negative wording, scores were reversed in accordance with the SATS-36 guidelines (e.g., 1 replaced by 7). The SATS-36 scale demonstrated favorable internal consistency. Schau [ 16 ] and other researchers [ 6 , 7 , 17 ]consistently reported high Cronbach’s alpha coefficient values for the six attitude components of SATS-36: Affect (0.80 to 0.89), Cognitive Competence (0.77 to 0.88), Value (0.74 to 0.90), Difficulty (0.64 to 0.81), Interest (0.85 to 0.88), and Effort (0.67 to 0.85), meaning the scale has good internal consistency and validity as a measurement instrument. Additionally, many studies have confirmed that SATS-36 is a cross-cultural tool that has been previously validated in different languages [ 18 , 6 , 8 , 12 ]. In this study, we translated the scale into a Chinese version. Before the formal survey, we invited 20 students to test whether our Chinese version was clear, understandable, and acceptable. The result of the test showed that our Chinese version had good face validity.

Investigation process

The survey utilized the Tencent questionnaire web system for data collection. Participants were instructed to complete an SATS-36 questionnaire and additional inquiries at the beginning of the course. The course was completed in 8–10 weeks. One week after the course’s end, a standard course examination was administered by the college administration to evaluate the participants’ academic performance. All the participants had to take this course examination. This closed-book standard examination was designed by the teachers of lessons and based on quantitative criteria, grading out of 100 points and comprised 40 single-choice questions (40 items, 1 point each), 10 fill-in-the-blank questions (10 blanks, 1 point each), 10 definition questions (5 items, 2 points each), and 40 points of calculation questions (4–5 items, encompassing tasks such as calculating confidence intervals and hypothesis testing). In accordance with Chinese academic norms and the college administration, students would receive academic credits upon scoring above 60 points. Since all the questions of the examination were developed according to the content of the course, examination scores could be used to evaluate the participants’ academic performance. To investigate the influence of students’ attitudes on course achievements, the SATS-36 scores would be subjected to analysis alongside the examination scores. Furthermore, demographic information, such as age, gender, and major, would be considered in the analysis.

Statistical analysis

All statistical analyses were performed using R version 4.2.3. The demographic characteristics of participants were summarized using counts and frequencies across categories. Descriptive statistics, including mean, median, and standard deviation (SD), were employed to characterize SATS and examination scores for both the overall sample and various subgroups. Given the non-normal distribution of most SATS and examination scores, statistical comparisons among demographic factors were conducted using Wilcoxon tests. Spearman correlation coefficients were computed to investigate associations between SATS scores and examination scores, both overall and within demographic subgroups. All statistical tests were two-tailed, and significance was established at P-value ≤ 0.05.

Participants’ demographics

The survey garnered responses from 1266 participants, with an average age of 20.65 years (Median = 21, SD = 0.92, range 18–25). Females constituted 66.1% of the participants, aligning with the typical gender distribution in Chinese medical colleges. The distribution of participants across majors appeared rational, mirroring the real-world scenario. Detailed demographic characteristics are presented in Table  1 .

SATS scores and course achievement

The Cronbach’s α coefficient for our study was 0.71, indicating a high level of consistency in our results. Table  2 provides an overview of the mean, median, and standard deviation (SD) values for both SATS scores and examination scores. Our findings revealed predominantly positive sentiments among students regarding medical statistics, with a mean score of 4.55 for the Affect component. Participants expressed confidence in their intellectual abilities and skills to grasp medical statistics, as evidenced by a mean score of 4.63 on the Cognitive Competence Component. Recognizing the value of medical statistics in their future careers, students recorded a mean score of 5.27 on the Value component, and they demonstrated an interest in the subject with a mean score of 4.88 on the Interest component. Notably, participants displayed a strong willingness to exert additional effort in learning medical statistics, as reflected in a mean score of 6.07 on the Effort component. Simultaneously, students acknowledged the inherent difficulty of medical statistics learning, as indicated by a mean score of 3.49 on the Difficulty component. The mean examination score for participants stood at 72.98, aligning with the typical performance levels observed in other subjects across Chinese medical colleges, underscoring commendable learning achievements among students.

SATS scores and course achievement within participant subgroups

Initially, we conducted an analysis of SATS scores and exam performance across female and male student cohorts. Our examination revealed variations among the six SATS components, specifically in the components of Value, Difficulty, and Effort (Table  3 ). Additionally, disparities were observed in the overall examination scores. In comparison to their male counterparts, female students expressed a greater belief in the importance of statistics knowledge for their future careers. Notably, on the Effort component, female students indicated a willingness to exert more effort in medical statistics learning compared to male students. However, they also acknowledged the perceived difficulty of medical statistics more than their male counterparts did. In terms of academic achievement, female students outperformed their male counterparts, achieving a higher mean score.

Subsequently, we categorized the participants into two groups based on age, those < 21 years old and those > = 21 years. A comparison of SATS scores and examination scores between these age groups was conducted. The analysis revealed no notable variance in SATS scores between the two age groups, except for a slight discrepancy in the examination scores (Table  4 ). Nevertheless, given the marginal nature of the examination score difference, we deemed it lacking in practical significance.

Finally, an examination of SATS scores and examination scores between medical undergraduates and nursing undergraduates was conducted. The analysis revealed that medical undergraduates achieved higher scores in the Affect, Cognitive Competence, and Value components compared to their nursing counterparts. Additionally, medical undergraduates outperformed nursing undergraduates in the overall examination scores (Table  5 ).

The correlation between SATS scores and the course achievement

Displayed in Table  6 are Spearman’s correlation coefficients illustrating the association between SATS scores and examination scores. Our analysis indicates a positive correlation between examination scores and the Affect, Cognitive Competence, Value, Interest, and Effort components, while a negative correlation is observed with the Difficulty component for all participants. Notably, this correlation pattern remains largely consistent across subgroups defined by gender, age, and major.

In this investigation, we explored the attitudes of medical undergraduate students toward medical statistics at a regional medical college in China. Employing SATS-36 scales, a survey was administered at the commencement of the medical statistics course. Results revealed that medical undergraduates generally harbor positive attitudes towards statistics in terms of Affect, Cognitive Competence, and Value components, while expressing negative sentiments regarding the Difficulty component of SATS-36. These findings align with those reported by previous studies [ 4 , 8 , 9 , 12 , 19 ]. Specifically, compared with Zhang et al.’s report for Chinese medical postgraduates [ 4 ], our findings suggested undergraduates exhibited a heightened affinity for medical statistics compared to postgraduates (mean of 4.55 in this study compared to 4.50). However, undergraduates demonstrated lower cognitive proficiency in learning than postgraduates (mean of 4.63 in this study compared to 4.79). Regarding the Value component, undergraduates perceived medical statistics as less valuable than postgraduates (mean of 5.27 in this study compared to 5.45). The Difficulty component, reflecting students’ perceptions of the subject’s difficulty, indicated that undergraduates perceived medical statistics as less challenging than postgraduates (mean of 3.49 in this study compared to 2.92).

We posit that compared to postgraduates, undergraduates may not fully recognize the value of statistics for their learning goals. The distinction arises from the fact that undergraduates primarily aim to pass examinations, while postgraduates must apply medical statistics for research purposes. Furthermore, as postgraduates have prior exposure to medical statistics courses during their undergraduate period, undergraduates’ relative lack of learning experiences contributes to their limited knowledge and disregard for the difficulty in learning statistics. Conversely, it could be attributed to undergraduates’ curiosity at the commencement of the course that they hold more positive feelings toward medical statistics due to their lack of prior experience. Notably, Zhang et al. did not report on Interest and Effort components. In our study, we obtained a mean of 4.88 on the Interest component, indicating students’ interest in statistics, and a mean of 6.07 on the Effort component, the highest score across all subscales, suggesting students’ willingness to invest significant effort in statistics learning despite acknowledging its difficulty.

To delve deeper into how demographic factors influence attitudes toward medical statistics and learning achievements, we scrutinized the impact of participants’ gender, age, and major. Beginning with gender, notable differences emerged in the Value, Difficulty, and Effort components. Specifically, female students exhibited a greater appreciation for statistics than their male counterparts (mean of 5.34 for females compared to 5.15 for males, p  < 0.05). Interestingly, while females acknowledged the statistical course’s increased difficulty compared to males (mean of 3.47 for females compared to 3.54 for males, p  < 0.05), they demonstrated a greater willingness to exert effort in their learning endeavors (mean of 6.15 for females compared to 5.91 for males, p  < 0.05). These findings align partially with the studies conducted by Cindy van Es & Michelle M. Weaver [ 13 ], Hannigan A et al. [ 7 ], and Milic NM et al. [ 9 ]. The intriguing revelation was that female students achieved higher mean examination scores than their male counterparts (mean of 74.67 for females compared to 69.70 for males, p  < 0.05). This observation aligns with broader education studies highlighting females’ tendency to attain higher academic achievements [ 20 , 21 ]. Considering the previously mentioned attitudes of female students, we posit that their heightened recognition of the value and difficulty of statistics leads to increased attention and, subsequently, superior examination performance.

Examining age groups (< 21 vs. >=21), no differences were identified in the SATS components, consistent with the findings of Milic NM [ 9 ]. However, several studies suggest that older students typically hold negative attitudes toward statistics [ 4 , 6 , 7 , 11 ]. Although a significant learning achievement difference was noted between age groups, the magnitude was deemed too small to hold practical significance.

Turning to the influence of majors on students’ attitudes. Participants of our study belonged to clinical medicine, dentistry, radiology, and nursing majors. Simplifying the analysis, we categorized them into medical undergraduates and nursing undergraduates. The results demonstrated medical undergraduates tended to score higher on Affect, Cognitive Competence, and Value components, achieving better course achievement compared to their nursing counterparts. In China, where the National College Entrance Examination is pivotal, nursing programs typically require lower scores than medical programs. Additionally, nursing undergraduates harbor distinct career perspectives from medical undergraduates, influencing their attitudes toward statistics and contributing to the significant learning achievement disparity observed between the two groups.

We discovered a positive correlation between course achievement and the Affect, Cognitive Competence, Value, Interest, and Effort components, while observing a negative correlation with the Difficulty component across all participant groups and subgroups. These outcomes generally align with earlier research findings, as indicated by various previous studies [ 22 , 4 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 19 ]. Notably, our results specifically resonate with the findings of Nja CO et al. [ 19 ]. concerning the Difficulty component. In summary, our analysis confirmed that students exhibiting a positive attitude are inclined to achieve better learning outcomes. However, since our study was a cross-sectional survey, we couldn’t figure out whether there was a causality yet.

To summarize the previous discussion, our study found that compared with postgraduates, medical undergraduates have their characteristics on the attitude towards statistics, which manifested more positive affect but less Cognitive Competence, Value, and Difficulty components, besides confirmed gender and major factors are associated with students’ attitude towards statistics, as well as the students exhibiting a positive attitude are inclined to achieve better learning outcomes. Several studies have revealed that early learning experiences have a significant impact on the attitudes toward current statistics courses [ 4 , 7 ]. Our study, along with Zhang et al. ‘s, can serve as a comparison between undergraduates and postgraduates to illustrate this conclusion. This also suggests that to improve medical postgraduates’ attitudes towards statistics, course content should be designed well during the undergraduate stage, specially making it different from the postgraduate stage, and more attention should be paid to the associated factors influencing attitude. Methods could be adding more examples of real research in accordance with students’ majors, avoiding too much mathematical theory, reducing teaching standards of calculating ability, early application of statistics analysis software, or introducing innovative pedagogical strategies. These methods require further research.

It is worth noting that our study participants were enrolled in a regional medical college in China. With a total of 304 medical colleges in the country and an estimated 120 thousand new students entering Chinese medical colleges annually, the majority typically enroll in regional medical colleges akin to the institution where our investigation was conducted. This underscores the significance of our study in contributing to the advancement of medical statistics education in China. Our findings suggest that, despite China’s strong tradition of mathematics education and students undergoing rigorous mathematical training from their primary school years, the experience of anxiety and frustration during the learning of medical statistics in college is not uncommon, which implies that teaching methods proven effective in other countries can be applied in the Chinese context.

Our study has several limitations. Firstly, it was conducted in a single medical college, and while participants hailed from diverse regions across China, the inherent biases stemming from their backgrounds could not be entirely mitigated. Secondly, the survey was administered through a web app. Although we made efforts to filter out dubious responses completed hastily, we cannot guarantee the absence of arbitrary replies from impatient participants. Thirdly, while our results affirm the effectiveness of SATS for undergraduates in China, indicating a positive correlation with medical statistics learning achievements, we did not delve into the impact of students’ backgrounds, particularly their mathematical education, which has been shown in numerous studies to influence statistics learning outcomes [ 4 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 23 ]. In subsequent investigations, we intend to explore how factors such as education, geographical location, and cultural influences contribute to medical statistics course achievement among Chinese undergraduates, aiming to uncover the key determinants in this context.

The findings of this study align broadly with previous research, highlighting the difference between undergraduates’ and postgraduates’ attitudes toward medical statistics, and the influence of students’ genders and majors on their attitudes toward medical statistics. Additionally, the study reinforces the notion that students’ positive attitudes are associated with better learning outcomes. Consequently, educators should prioritize understanding the impact of attitudes, particularly considering variations related to genders and majors, when devising strategies and curricula to enhance medical statistics education for medical undergraduates.

Data availability

The data of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics

Evidence-Based Medicine

Standard Deviation

A free software environment for statistical computing and graphics

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Candace Schau for her SATS-36 scale.

The study was funded by grants-in-aids from Heilongjiang Province Higher Education Teaching Reform Research Project (SJGY20210912, SJGZ20220154), Mudanjiang Medical University Education and Teaching Reform Project (JY2015030, MYPY20170010). The funding bodies played no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

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Yupeng Guo, Shengzhong Rong, Jing Dong, Tao Ji, Yingying Niu & Hongjun Guan

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YG and HG designed and conducted the study. SR, JD, TJ and YN collected the data. YG and SR conducted the statistics analysis. All authors contributed to the writing of the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Guo, Y., Rong, S., Dong, J. et al. Perceptions of attitudes toward statistics among medical undergraduates: insights from a regional medical college in China. BMC Med Educ 24 , 579 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05600-1

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Received : 04 January 2024

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05600-1

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