Impact of content reinforcement of muscular and skeletal systems on knowledge retention in nursing students

Abstract

Research Gaps: ▪The human anatomy is regarded as a cornerstone of health care disciplines and is a pre-requisite for subsequent years of medical, allied health and nursing theory courses and clinical (Young et al., 2016). ▪Numerous studies have expressed concern over students' ability to acquire anatomical knowledge in the first year and successfully transfer, retain, and apply it throughout their program (Narnawareand Neumeier, 2020; Narnaware, Y. 2021). ▪Several robust interventional strategies have been employed in medicine and allied health disciplines to overcome the gap between first-year theory to senior years of theory and clinical (Manyamaet al., 2016). ▪However, these interventions are lacking in nursing education. We have previously shown that nursing students lose anatomical knowledge by approximately 30.0% over three years (Narnaware, Y. 2022). Study objectives: ▪To improve the acquisition and retention of anatomical knowledge, the present study aims to evaluate an interventional strategy that includes the content reinforcement (repeated knowledge testing) of the muscular and skeletal systems over eight weeks that will help improve knowledge retention.