Graduate entrants into nursing - are we meeting their needs?

UNLABELLED: Changes to statutory requirements led to the need to redesign the current shortened programme for graduates (SPG) offered by the University of Dundee. A review of the literature revealed very little published material relating to this type of programme and that which did exist was predominantly American in origin. Prior to developing a new programme a study was carried out. The aim of the study was to explore the attitudes and opinions of non-nurse graduates currently undertaking the accelerated pre-registration programme of study offered by the University of Dundee.

DESIGN: Purposive sampling was adopted and all students currently undertaking the programme were invited to participate. Data were collected using three focus group interviews with a minimum of five and a maximum of seven participants. All interviews were tape-recorded. The tapes were transcribed and data analysed using a content analysis approach.

FINDINGS: Several important themes and sub-themes emerged from the interviews. These were consistent across all groups. The themes were:

DISCUSSION: The data offered a rich insight into the attitudes and opinions of students undertaking the current SPG. The findings supported those of previous studies and have been used to inform curriculum development.