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Publications & Resources > The Standard > March 2006

   Last modified: March 2006

Reaching out to the next generation

As nursing students, 92 per cent of recent graduates had accessed the College’s Compendium of Standards. This is just one finding from the College’s 2005 survey, Understanding the Experience of Recent Nursing Graduates.

The College sent the survey to 1,160 recent Ontario graduates to explore the new members’ understanding of self-regulation and better understand the experiences of students in connecting with the College. It conducted a similar survey in 2002.

“Ontario nursing students are an important stakeholder group,” says James Mendel, a policy analyst at the College, who led the recent survey. “Students represent, in a large part, the future membership of the College.”

Other positive findings include:

  • 80 per cent of recent nursing grads reported first hearing about the College very early in their nursing program;
  • 78 per cent correctly identified title protection as a core regulatory function of the College; and
  • 87 per cent identified the College’s objective of public protection.

“Over the past few years, the College has made strides in engaging nursing students in the role and function of the College,” says Mendel. Initiatives to enhance student interactions include the development of a student section on the College website and the interactive DVD and information booklet Nursing in Ontario — A Student’s Introduction to Self- Regulation.

“While the findings show that most of the initiatives are working, there is room for improvement,” says Mendel. For example, only 39 per cent of respondents were aware of the Nursing in Ontario booklet. “This is a sign that the College and nursing educators need to work together to ensure that students are provided with opportunities to access and become familiar with the College’s tools for learning about self-regulation.”

 

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