Text Box: THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION OF PEDIATRIC NURSING PRACTICE ON THE ACQUIREMENT OF NURSING PROCESS IN STUDENTS
Sobue I, Hayashi H 
College of Medical Technology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the educational function of pediatric nursing practice on the acquirement of nursing process in students. 
Methods: In 2000, 73 nursing students in the 3rd academic year participated in this study with informed consent. They were classified into 2 groups based on their teacher¡¯s evaluations: 38 in the high evaluation group and 35 in the poor evaluation group. The following items on the self-reported evaluation of pediatric nursing practice were investigated using a 5-point scale: nursing diagnosis area, nursing intervention area and global evaluation. Cluster analysis was used to investigate the evaluation structure.
Results: The evaluation structure of the high evaluation group consisted of 3 clusters: nursing intervention area, nursing knowledge and skills area, and nursing diagnosis and plan area. In contrast, the evaluation structure of the poor evaluation group consisted of many unintelligible clusters including nursing diagnosis items and nursing intervention items. 
Conclusion: Although the students in the high evaluation group considered the nursing process as a more integrated framework because of their nursing practice experience, the poor evaluation group considered each of the nursing processes as separate. Further studies on the educational function of nursing practice are required.
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