How to Prepare Nursing Students for Analysis, Synthesis & Evaluation

Nurses provide an invaluable service by providing patient care and assistance. To become a nurse, you must successfully complete an accredited nursing program and pass the certification exam, also known as the NCLEX. An accredited nursing program, which can be completed either online or in the classroom, prepares nursing students to pass the exam and work in the nursing profession. Students are taught how to analyze patient information, allowing them to better care for patients. Evaluations allow instructors to check the students' progress throughout the course. Synthesis can refer to creating lifelike situations that allow students to practice their skills and critical thinking abilities; this also prepares them for work in the nursing field.

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  Nurses are taught to collect and analyze data, which can be used to create a care plan. Lovely Doctor image by Paul Moore from Fotolia.com

  Teach nursing students how to analyze patient information so that they can determine the best way to care for their patients. They must learn to gather information including a patient's signs, symptoms, medical history, medication list and allergies. Nursing students must be taught to compare and analyze the information gathered in order to determine the best possible care for each patient.

  This training helps the nurse write a care plan for each patient that includes recommended treatments and direct patient care. Direct patient care refers to bathing, bathroom assistance, mobility and feeding. Students should be taught to use information analysis as a way to check for errors in areas such as medication. Nursing students should look for contraindications during their analysis of information. Contraindications are reasons a patient is unable to take a medication or receive specific treatment or procedures.

  For example, a nurse is assigned to care for a patient with chest pain. After assessing the patient, she finds the patient's systolic blood pressure is 88. The patient is prescribed nitroglycerin for the treatment of chest pain. The nurse knows that a systolic blood pressure less than 100 is contraindicated for the use of nitroglycerin because the drug is known to lower blood pressure. Therefore, the nurse knows to withhold the nitroglycerin and must look for another way to treat the patient's chest pain.

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  Training dummies allow students to practice skills that cannot be performed on fellow students. cpr head to head image by paul mitchell from Fotolia.com

  Use synthesis, or simulation, which refers to real-life situations that are created as a way to teach nursing students how to practice patient care prior to working with real patients. Simulation can be done using computer programs, training mannequins and fellow students to teach how to perform procedures and treatments properly. Computer programs allow information to be entered that gives instructors the opportunity to control and change the situation to simulate the unpredictability of real life.

  Practicing techniques on fellow students gives nursing students the opportunity to synthesize the multiple components of a single life situation, and helps prepare them for the job. Students can experience what it is like to care for an actual person, which cannot be accomplished using a simulator program. They can practice hands-on care and techniques, and instructors can comment and offer advice. Techniques such as proper positioning, checking vital signs and providing mobility assistance can be practiced on fellow students.

  Training mannequins provide students with the opportunity to perform techniques, such as CPR, which cannot be done on fellow students. Some training mannequins have the option of connecting them to computer programs that allow instructors to input information, turning the training mannequins into lifelike training tools.

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  Nursing students are given written tests to assess their knowledge and progression through the program. taking test image by Petro Feketa from Fotolia.com

  Evaluate students to determine their progression through the nursing program. There are several ways to prepare students for evaluation. Written exams can be given to test the students' knowledge of material taught during the course. Questions may be multiple choice, matching and true and false. Tests can be administered after each chapter to see how much information the students were able to retain. These exams can also be done at the end of the program to test the students' comprehension of all information included throughout their training. This helps prepare them for the final NCLEX exam, which each student must pass to receive her nursing certification.

  Practical skills exams test each student's ability to perform the procedures and techniques taught during the nursing program. These tests require the students to perform each skill to ensure it is done properly prior to performing them on patients. Instructors will watch how each student goes about accomplishing the tasks, and then evaluate the student's performance and determine if she passes or fails. They may also offer tips and suggestions that make performing the task easier for both the student and patient.

  Computer programs may be used to evaluate a student's ability to provide adequate and proper patient care, because they can be programmed to simulate real-life situations. Instructors will evaluate students based on their ability to collect and analyze the patient information that will be used to determine the appropriate care plan for the patient. Once a student creates the care plan, she will be evaluated on her ability to implement the plan and perform each skill needed to care for the patient.