Anatomical knowledge retention in second‐year Bachelor of Science & Psychiatric Nursing students

Abstract

There is growing concern that nursing, medical and allied health students do not retain enough anatomical knowledge to confidently and successfully apply it in future classroom and clinical settings ( Doomernik et al., 2017). Evidence now shows that knowledge retention is impacted by many factors including admission criteria, teaching hours (Narnaware and Neumeier, 2019), age, sex, ethnicity, prior knowledge of science/biology, a gap between high school and university, and health care discipline (McVicar et al., 2015; Vogl , 2017). In Canada, the discipline of nursing can be subdivided into three professional designations, each with different educational requirements; Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Registered Psychiatric Nurses (Canadian Nurses Association, 2019).