TY - JOUR
T1 - The importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice : a systematic review
AU - Jefferies, Diana
AU - McNally, Stephen
AU - Roberts, Katriona
AU - Wallace, Anna
AU - Stunden, Annette
AU - D'Souza, Suzanne
AU - Glew, Paul
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Objectives: This systematic review was designed to assess the importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice. It aimed to explore the link between academic literacy and writing in an undergraduate nursing degree and the development of critical thinking skills for their future professional clinical practice. Design: A systematic review of qualitative studies and expert opinion publications. Data Sources: A systematic literature search was undertaken of the following databases: ERIC, PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE and Scopus. All papers reviewed were from 2000 to 2016 and were written in English. Review Methods: We identified 981 studies and expert opinion papers from the selected databases. After reviewing key words and abstracts for the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 48 papers were selected for review. These were read and reread, with 22 papers, including one thesis, selected for quality appraisal. One paper was discarded due to the exclusion criteria. Results: Three major themes were evident from this study. First, students need assistance to develop tertiary level academic literacy skills when they commence their undergraduate nursing degree. Second, that teaching practices need to be consistent in both designing assessments and in giving feedback to students, in order to assist improvement of academic literacy skills. And finally, academic literacy can facilitate critical thinking when students are assessed using discipline specific genres that relate to their future professional nursing practice. Conclusions: This review highlights the importance of critical thinking in clinical nursing practice and its strong relationship with academic writing skills. It has shown critical thinking is discipline specific and nursing students need to be taught discipline specific literacy genres in undergraduate nursing degrees. Nursing has a diverse educational and cultural mix of students, and educators should not assume academic literacy skills upon commencement of an undergraduate nursing programme.
AB - Objectives: This systematic review was designed to assess the importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice. It aimed to explore the link between academic literacy and writing in an undergraduate nursing degree and the development of critical thinking skills for their future professional clinical practice. Design: A systematic review of qualitative studies and expert opinion publications. Data Sources: A systematic literature search was undertaken of the following databases: ERIC, PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE and Scopus. All papers reviewed were from 2000 to 2016 and were written in English. Review Methods: We identified 981 studies and expert opinion papers from the selected databases. After reviewing key words and abstracts for the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 48 papers were selected for review. These were read and reread, with 22 papers, including one thesis, selected for quality appraisal. One paper was discarded due to the exclusion criteria. Results: Three major themes were evident from this study. First, students need assistance to develop tertiary level academic literacy skills when they commence their undergraduate nursing degree. Second, that teaching practices need to be consistent in both designing assessments and in giving feedback to students, in order to assist improvement of academic literacy skills. And finally, academic literacy can facilitate critical thinking when students are assessed using discipline specific genres that relate to their future professional nursing practice. Conclusions: This review highlights the importance of critical thinking in clinical nursing practice and its strong relationship with academic writing skills. It has shown critical thinking is discipline specific and nursing students need to be taught discipline specific literacy genres in undergraduate nursing degrees. Nursing has a diverse educational and cultural mix of students, and educators should not assume academic literacy skills upon commencement of an undergraduate nursing programme.
KW - academic writing
KW - critical thinking
KW - education
KW - nursing
KW - nursing students
UR - http://handle.westernsydney.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:43644
U2 - 10.1016/j.nedt.2017.09.020
DO - 10.1016/j.nedt.2017.09.020
M3 - Article
VL - 60
SP - 84
EP - 91
JO - Nurse Education Today
JF - Nurse Education Today
ER -