Performance Analysis of an Anatomy Course between the Students of Second-degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing and School of Nursing

10.6145/jme.202003_24(1).0004

Meng-Lin Liao；Ming-Fong Chang；Sung-Tsang Hsieh；Kuo-Shyan Lu；Yuh-Lien Chen；Chung-Liang Chien；Shu-Hao Hsu；June-Horng Lue

second-degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing ； School of Nursing ； anatomy course ； biology class

Journal of Medical Education

24卷1期（2020 / 03 / 01）

18 - 28

英文

Purpose: The social demand for second‐degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) has become increasingly significant in addition to the demand for the School of Nursing (SN). Previous studies showed that BSN students displayed better academic performance than SN students and that biological sciences were fundamental in nursing. However, research that investigates the academic performance of BSN and SN students in Taiwan is lacking. Thus, the present study aims to compare the academic performance between BSN and SN students in anatomy. Specifically, the study analyzes whether or not students who underwent biology classes displayed better performance in anatomy. Methods: Grades of 29 BSN and 37 SN students were collected. However, two BSN students did not provide information about completion of a biology course. The collected scores included midterm lecture, midterm laboratory, final lecture, and final laboratory. Scores in anatomy were first compared to give a background of the academic performance of the BSN and SN students. Students were divided into two groups, namely, took-biology-class and no-biology-class. Then, t-test was conducted to analyze whether the took-biology-class students performed better than the no-biology-class students in anatomy. Results: No significant difference was observed between the BSN and SN students in terms of academic performance in anatomy, which indicates a similar level of performance between the two groups. However, the mean of the less-than-median and greater-than or equal-to-median scores of the took-biology-class students was significantly higher than those of the no-biology-class students in the final laboratory exam. This result suggests that students who took a biology class performed better in the laboratory exam for anatomy. Conclusions: Results could eliminate the concern about the quality of the BSN course. Moreover, the study proposes that biology class could be used as one of the screening factors for admission selection. Although this research is a pioneering study related to BSN programs in Taiwan, further studies are required to monitor academic performance and evaluate teaching methods to enhance student success in BSN.

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