Evaluation of Concept Maps in Nurse Practitioner Education

Problem: Multiple factors influence curriculum development within nurse practitioner education. These factors include professional accreditation competencies, societal demands, and a complex dynamic health care industry. The ability to problem solve and make decisions has been associated with clinical competence. Competence is considered a key outcome and is reflective of the multiple factors that influence curriculum development. In order to prepare students to develop competence, nurse practitioner faculty must provide the students with the necessary tools to be able to problem solve and make decisions. Theoretical Framework: Active learning strategies, such as concept maps, support the use of Ausubel’s Assimilation Theory which identifies meaningful learning as the key outcome. In order for learning to be meaningful, new information must be integrated with what is already known and linked in a manner that makes sense to the learner. This self-constructed learning assists students to problem solve and make decisions regardless of the familiarity of the situation. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of concept maps by graduate nurse practitioner students. Methods: A descriptive design was used for this study with quantitative analysis. A convenience sample of nurse practitioner students enrolled in a mid-level core advanced pharmacology course was used. Concept maps were analyzed for changes in quality over time using a scoring criteria adapted from the work completed by Novak and Gowin (1984). Total concept map scores were evaluated in relation to achievement of course outcomes to determine the relationship between the two variables using Pearson r correlation coefficient. Student perceptions’ about the use of concept maps was also measured using frequency distribution. Results: As findings are currently being analyzed it is postulated that a change in quality of concepts maps will reflect meaningful learning. It is expected that there will be a relationship between the total concept map score and course outcome. It is also expected that student perception of the use of concept maps as a learning strategy enhance problem solving and clinical decision making.