Information needs in Spanish nursing students: results of a survey

Abstract

Nursing professional practice requires continuous knowledge updating, which makes essential “Management of information” competency and its inclusion in undergraduate curricula. That requires knowing and measuring the undergraduate nursing student’s information needs and their satisfaction with learning process related to information competency training.

An observational, descriptive and transversal quantitative study was carried out. A structured questionnaire was administered to nursing students from 21 University centers.

Interest in informational competences integration in successive courses was shown by 73% of the participants. Almost three quarters of this percentage considered a subject on information skills as necessary. Some authors recommend information literacy (IL) to be integrated mostly into the first year of the program. Others think that each faculty must examine its curricula in order to determine the best placement for information literacy content and experiences.

In all blocks analyzed, results show a positive impact of information competencies trainings on the students.