Integrating Workplace Learning Into Healthcare Settings: A Mixed-Methods Study to Inform Curriculum Design, Resource...

Postgraduate education is critical for advancing nursing competence, yet enrolment has declined as nurses struggle to balance clinical, academic and personal responsibilities. Workplace learning offers a flexible, context-driven alternative, allowing nurses to integrate academic development into their clinical practice and potentially mitigating work-life conflicts. However, adoption of structured workplace learning remains limited across healthcare organisations.

This study aimed to explore how workplace learning can be integrated into healthcare settings to inform curriculum design, resource allocation and organisational support in postgraduate nursing education.

An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study comprising a single-cohort quantitative pre-post knowledge assessment and repeated competence assessments, followed by qualitative focus groups to explain implementation enablers and barriers. Twenty-three postgraduate nurses enrolled in a 13-week workplace learning course participated; 22 completed the study. Quantitative data were analysed with nonparametric statistics, while qualitative data underwent thematic analysis.

We observed a slight improvement in median knowledge scores and increasing competence scores across four time points. As this was a single-group evaluation without a control group, quantitative findings cannot be interpreted as causal effects. Qualitative analysis generated three themes: (1) learning and assessment, (2) integration of workplace learning in the organisation and (3) organisational impact on workplace learning.

Workplace learning was feasible and valued when supported by peer learning structures, appropriately timed assessments and organisational enablers such as protected time, adequate infrastructure and leadership support.