What to Consider Before Beginning Graduate Education: A Pilot Study

The literature supports a general theme that college students lack metacognitive awareness about learning, which leads to poor examination performance and ultimately high attrition rates. However, the literature emphasizes that when college students receive instruction about learning, examination performance goes up and attrition goes down. This pilot study focused on a specific subset of learners: graduate students in a nurse anesthesia program. Given new evidence-based wellness approaches to learning, the nurse anesthesia program conducted a descriptive study aimed at exploring student perceptions. The study goals were to provide students with evidence-based information about wellness factors that influence learning. The book The New Science of Learning by Doyle and Zakrajsek (Stylus Publishing, 2013) was used to provide students with neuroscience evidence about learning that might assist their transition to graduate school. The book was mailed to 34 student registered nurse anesthetists before matriculation. An 8-item Likert-style online survey evaluated the students' perceptions of the book along with identifying any changes the students made in anticipation of starting the rigorous nurse anesthesia program. The study demonstrated that student registered nurse anesthetists could benefit from instruction about wellness approaches that enhance learning before matriculation. Additionally, the study provided the framework for future research.