The Effects of Clinical Exposure on Examination Performance of Nursing Students.

Background: Timing of didactic theoretical content with clinical experiences can be challenging due to limited clinical placements and insufficient experienced faculty. However, appropriate and timely clinical experiences for nursing students are essential for developing knowledge and skills. This project evaluated the effects of the timing of clinical experiences on examination performance.

"Make-up" Examinations: Comparison of on-Time and Late Examination Student Scores.

Background: Nursing faculty may have concerns about unfair advantages and inflated examination grades when students take an examination late.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare make-up examination scores with on-time examination scores to determine whether scores were higher in students who took an examination late.

Methods: A descriptive, comparative study using retrospective examination scores from a large nursing program was analyzed.

Anxiety and Answer-Changing Behavior in Nursing Students.

Background: Anxiety in college students, including nursing students, has increased significantly and has been implicated as a cause of lower academic achievement and answer-changing behavior. This study investigated the relationship between student anxiety and answer-changing behaviors.

Method: One hundred thirty-one nursing students from a large midwestern baccalaureate nursing program were enrolled in a quasiexperimental prospective research study.

Introducing Nursing Students to Pastoral Care Providers Via Simulation.

During a mock code simulation scenario in a medical-surgical undergraduate nursing course, two priests as pastoral care providers were included as interprofessional team members. Perceptions of the inclusion of pastoral care in an end-of-life simulation were assessed as part of a mixed-method study that included a qualitative analysis of debriefing sessions. Students reported an increase in awareness of the role of pastoral care in healthcare and learned to consider the spiritual aspects of end-of-life care.

Assessment of Answer-Changing Behavior of Nursing Students and Faculty Recommendations.

Background: Existing literature identifies a general positive benefit to students' examination scores when students change their answer on examinations. Current shifts toward computerized examinations and in test anxiety warrant a literature update on test-taking behaviors.

Purpose: This study assessed answer changing on multiple-choice examinations and investigated faculty recommendations related to answer changing.

Effect of pH Test-Strip Characteristics on Accuracy of Readings.

Background: Little is known about characteristics of colorimetric pH test strips that are most likely to be associated with accurate interpretations in clinical situations.

Objectives: To compare the accuracy of 4 pH test strips with varying characteristics (ie, multiple vs single colorimetric squares per calibration, and differing calibration units [1.0 vs 0.