Nursing students in transition--from hospital to college and back again

Nursing education is increasingly moving from hospital-based schools to institutions for tertiary education. The change in style and content of nursing courses has created difficulties for many students and their teachers. Many nursing students find the transition to tertiary study confusing and in the early stages of their course find study skills assistance valuable in adapting to new ways of writing and learning. Student difficulties usually manifest themselves in assignment writing and are often interpreted by academic staff and students as poor English expression. Most nursing students assisted by the study skills tutor at the South Australian College of Advanced Education in 1986-87, however, had problems with their writing for more fundamental reasons: (i) courses conflicted with students' earlier learning experiences; (ii) the conventions of academic argument were unknown; (iii) vocabulary and linguistic structures were inappropriate for new demands. These problems are discussed and some support strategies described.