Recent Study Examined Effectiveness of Promoting Nursing Careers to SC Students Via Online Job Shadows
July 2, 2012
COLUMBIA, SC – June 28, 2012 – In a recent study entitled“Educational Interventions to Improve the Perception of Nursing as aFuture Career Choice among Middle School Students,” Robin Matutina, aPhD candidate from the Medical University of South Carolina, examined anumber of ways to combat the predicted shortage of available nurses byusing novel recruitment methods targeting middle school students. One ofthe tools she assessed was a MicroCareerBurst™, an online job shadowingtool developed by Microburst Learning. The premise of Matutina’sresearch was that by exposing students at an earlier age to positiveinformation about the nursing profession, the health care sector may bebetter able to reverse decreased enrollment in nursing school and build astronger recruitment pipeline for this vital profession.
According to data from the American Association of Colleges ofNursing, there is a predicted shortfall of 260,000 registered nurses bythe year 2025. There are a number of factors contributing to thisnational shortfall, such as a shortage of qualified nursing faculty, anaging nursing workforce nearing retirement, and more baby boomers livinglonger and requiring increased health care services to name a few.
In Matutina’s study, a cluster randomized control design was used totest the effects of the interventions on a group of middle schoolstudents ages 11 to 14 years old compared to a control group of similarmakeup. Ninety-nine students from Hanahan Middle School participated inthe study, and they represented demographic diversity with regard togender, grade point average, language spoken at home, race/ethnicity,and socioeconomic status.
The goal of the study was to reach students earlier, before high school,and capture their career interest. The students were givenpre-intervention surveys to gauge their current interest in nursing as acareer choice. Then students were exposed to one of threeinterventions:
- A Nursing MicroCareerBurst™ e-lesson (a 20-minute highly interactive online job shadow);
- A male nurse that gave an in-person presentation on nursing careers; and
- Both the Nursing e-lesson and the in-person presentation were shared with the students.
Then a post-intervention survey was given to gauge if there werechanges in the students’ perceptions about nursing as a career choice.The post surveys revealed that the Nursing MicroCareerBurst interventionby itself was the most effective in capturing the students’ interestfor a career in nursing. In addition, the MicroCareerBurst-onlyintervention had the biggest effect on improving nursing versus an idealcareer and was more effective in improving middle school students’perceptions of nursing as a future career choice.
According to Microburst Learning, the MicroCareerBurst job shadowlessons are specifically created for a middle school student’s attentionspan and daily lifestyle usage of multimedia to explore newinformation, such as potential career opportunities. “These interactivee-lessons are vital tools not only for educators and parents, but alsofor current nurses and workforce development professionals who areworking with schools and students to promote greater awareness of healthcare careers,” explained Microburst CEO Jordy Johnson.
Microburst Learning has worked with a number of business andeducational partners throughout South Carolina, including the SCHospital Association, Palmetto Health and Health Sciences SouthCarolina, to encourage more young people to consider careers in nursingand other health care careers, because they are vital to SouthCarolina’s quality of life in terms of saving lives and improving healthoutcomes for all segments of the population.
There is free, online access provided 24/7 to students, educators andparents through the SC Department of Education’s Personal Pathways toSuccess initiative (www.scpathways.org.)No matter where students reside, they all have equal access to learnabout a myriad of career choices and hopefully as a result, they willmake more informed decisions about their futures, Johnson added.
As Matutina’s research suggests, the current nursing workforce has agreat opportunity to affect the future of their profession by reachingout earlier to students in middle school to share information on nursingcareers. Johnson believes that coupling that type of activity with theonline MicroCareerBurst lessons can make a significant impact in gettingmore young people excited about the many fulfilling health care jobsavailable in our state.
