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‘Levels’ of attainment in nursing practice: reality or illusion?
Author(s) -
Ashworth Peter D.,
Gerrish Kate,
Hargreaves Janet,
McManus Mike
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1999.01060.x
Subject(s) - documentation , task (project management) , degree (music) , nursing , hierarchy , psychology , baccalaureate degree , nursing practice , associate degree , medical education , clinical practice , medicine , computer science , higher education , political science , management , physics , acoustics , law , economics , programming language
‘Levels’ of attainment in nursing practice: reality or illusion? In earlier research based on an analysis of course documentation, it had been found that there was little consensus among nurse educators concerning the parameters which distinguish levels of practice skills, particularly those which differentiate diploma and degree qualifications in the United Kingdom. This result was confirmed and strengthened in the current study. Lecturers in nursing, when presented with a sorting task using 40 statements derived from course documentation selected from the earlier study, were unable to distinguish statements describing diploma level from those describing degree level practice. Possible reasons for the difficulty are discussed. It is concluded that the attempt to represent practice skill in a hierarchy of assessment for degree or diploma qualifications is premature since the parameters of practice remain unreliably specified.