Nursing students' evaluation of the introduction of nursing diagnosis focused tutorials in a university degree programme.

The School of Nursing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal has recently introduced the concept of nursing diagnosis within the Bachelor of Nursing Problem Based Learning (PBL) acute care nursing course. A descriptive survey was designed to evaluate a teaching strategy the researchers developed for Year III Bachelor of Nursing students in an acute care clinical practice course. All students in Year III PBL tutorials in 2006 were included in the study. The students were satisfied with their learning and felt competent in assessing, making and prioritizing nursing diagnoses, formulating hypotheses and using the nursing process in their care in real life nursing situations. With regard to the structured nine step process students generally were enthusiastic about this process and felt that it helped them perform better. This paper describes how the researchers introduced nursing diagnosis and how it was received by the students. Because these students are Year III students their perceptions of this change in focus is especially enlightening and provides useful feedback to further modify the course.