Inspire.
Engage.
Lead.
Information Literacy in the clinical
learning environment of new
graduate nurses
Olive Wahoush & Laura Banfield
November 2010
Funded by: Nursing Education
Research Unit McMaster University
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Research Team
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INVESTIGATORS
Principal Investigator: Dr Olive Wahoush
Co-Principal Investigator: Laura Banfield
4L02 students x 6
– Developed survey questions
– Piloted questions and revised them for final copy
– Assisted in implementing phase 1
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Study Design
Two phase study
 Phase 1 – a test with undergraduate students
 Phase 2 – a survey of new RNs in their clinical
settings
Data Collection
 Survey methods & focus groups
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Research Objective Phase 1
 Research Objectives: To understand
undergraduate nurses perceptions of the
available sources and resources in their Level 4
clinical placement settings through the
McMaster site of the collaborative program.
 Primary Research Question: What information
sources and resources are available in clinical
areas hosting Level 4 students from the
McMaster Undergraduate Nursing Program?
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Rationale/Relevance
 Registered nurses are expected to engage in
Evidence-Based Practice,
– this requires that nurses can locate and appraise current
information and make informed decisions as they plan care
with and for their patients (College of Nurses of Ontario
2007).
 Little is known about newly graduated RNs - their
access to and use of quality information sources and
resources to support their Evidence Based Practice.
 Results from this study will begin to answer this
information gap and may inform our curriculum
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Methods
 One time on-line survey,
– LimeSurvey as McMaster University is already has a
subscription
– & this survey tool and it provides greater security controls
than Survey Monkey.
 Duration of Research Project
– Start Date: May 3rd 2010
– End Date: March 31st 2011
 Data Collection Period
– Start Date: September 3rd 2010
– End Date: January 31st 2011
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Current status
 Survey distributed to all level 4 undergraduate
BScN students McMaster site (October 2010)
 To date responses from 37 students (n=199)
– 16 different organizations
– 1st reminder will be sent this week
– 2nd reminder Nov 22nd and shut down by Nov 30th
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Next Steps
• Data Analysis using LimeSurvey and Excel for descriptive
statistics
• Identify potential key informants to survey about available
resources in Phase 2 (e.g. hospital librarans)
 Identify Clinical settings for Phase 2
 Presentation of findings to the Ontario Librarians
Association Superconference Feb 3rd 2011 in
Toronto
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Acknowledgements
 NERU for funding
 UNEC for their suggested revisions, support
and approval
 4L02 students for their interest and commitment
to the development and implementation of this
project