Nurses' learning styles: promoting better integration of theory into practice.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND: In a climate where nurses' roles are expanding, underpinning knowledge is increasingly important. AIM: To explore staff preferences for learning and highlight the importance of recognising individual learning styles. METHOD: A questionnaire was carried out with 61 nurses in an independent health and social care provider, achieving a response rate of 100%. RESULTS: Staff mainly prefer visual or kinaesthetic learning. This indicates the current training programme is not meeting their needs. DISCUSSION: The learning environment is recognised as having an impact in either encouraging or impeding a positive learning experience. A range of learning theories, concepts and approaches can be used to build and manage effective learning environments. CONCLUSION: Staff often prefer a visual learning style. Increased emphasis should be given to work-based learning rather than classroom-based teaching methods.

Author information

Author/s: Frankel, Andrew (A);

Affiliation: Brierley Court, Manchester, for Care UK.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Nursing times (Nurs Times), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2009 Jan 20-26; vol 105 (issue 2) : pp 24-7

Dates: Created 2009/03/05; Completed 2009/04/03;

PMID: 19260265, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 4/3/2009, IMS Date: 03 Apr 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.

See a large map of 100+ related articles.