Learning transfer evidence in baccalaureate senior nursing students using a disaster emergency preparedness tabletop exercise

Little is known about learning transfer in senior baccalaureate nursing students, therefore, the primary purpose of this research was to describe senior nursing students' learning transfer evidence for basic disaster and medical-surgical nursing concepts during a tabletop exercise, an academic strategy used in disaster preparedness education. A second purpose was to document participants' attitudes regarding the tabletop exercise. The organizing framework for this descriptive quantitative research was Perkins and Salomon's Learning Transfer. Learning transfer is content, context, and time bound from the original learning circumstance.;The research questions were 1. What is the relationship between Disaster Knowledge and Tabletop-Matrix scores among senior baccalaureate pre-licensure nursing students and 2. What is the relationship between Tabletop Attitude Questionnaire and Tabletop Matrix scores among senior baccalaureate pre-licensure nursing students?;The research design used a disaster emergency preparedness tabletop exercise with research instruments that documented participants' decisions and attitudes for basic disaster and medical-surgical nursing concepts. Participants (N = 114) were in the role of a medical-surgical nurse and completed a Disaster Knowledge Test, two Tabletop Matrixes for two item patient scenarios, and the Tabletop Attitude Questionnaire. The study setting was a classroom at a mid-Atlantic CCNE accredited metropolitan university.;The findings included far learning transfer of basic disaster nursing concepts alone and basic disaster nursing combined with medical-surgical nursing concepts used during the reverse triage activity. Tabletop Attitude Questionnaire and Tabletop Matrix scores had a direct positive linear relationship, though weak; Disaster Knowledge Test and Tabletop Matrix scores did not demonstrate a relationship. Participants identified the tabletop exercise as an opportunity to identify previous learning gaps and manage patients. Additional findings included the decisions made during a reverse triage activity demonstrated use of the nursing process and collectively showed participants' decision-making related to their item patient scenario disposition.;Select AACN Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice and the ANA's Standards of Practice contributed to the instruments developed for this study. The instruments and the tabletop exercise, used together, are a formative assessment that has value for nursing science, through the introduction of new instruments and for nursing education, through the introduction of Perkins and Salomon's Learning Transfer framework using a tabletop exercise. This study's value for practice is an experience of decision-making during uncertainty using original learning with a realistic practice problem within a complex healthcare circumstance.