Learning styles and teaching/learning strategy preferences: implications for educating nurses in critical care, the operating room, and infection control

To assess the learning styles and educational strategy preferences among critical care nurses, operating room nurses, and infection control practitioners.

Descriptive multicenter survey using a self-report questionnaire.

108 hospitals from nine geographic regions of the United States.

A random sample of 303 (93%) nurses in the three specialties responded to the survey questionnaires.

The majority of participants (64%) had an abstract learning style and preferred the self-directed, discovery approach to learning.

Nurses may be more abstract in their learning styles than previously reported. Experiential learning theory is an effective means of identifying nurses' learning styles and teaching/learning preferences, which can then be used to plan basic and continuing educational programs.