Nurses' perceptions of lifelong learning

Abstract

Nursing knowledge does not stop after qualifying. In fact the half-life of the nursing profession has been estimated to be between two and five years. The purpose of this study was to investigate nurses' perceptions of lifelong learning. A convenience sample of 10 nurses working in medical and surgical wards were selected. A descriptive survey design was utilized. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected by the use of semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was employed to analyse the qualitative part of the data. All the participants perceived lifelong learning as important. It is very interesting to outline that all participants argued that there were skills that were either not taught or taught differently in their nursing course than how it is originally being practiced on the wards. Nurses also argued that they learnt skills during their practice from other health care colleagues. A major finding was that all the respondents argued that patient care will be affected positively by lifelong learning; however some negative attitudes towards continuing learning were identified. As a result of this study, recommendations for education, practice, and suggestions for further research were given.