WIIFM? Nursing Stats edition
I’ve taught the statistics course that students attending the Nursing program at my University are mandated to complete for quite awhile now. Even before my first time teaching the course, I had suspicions that I’d frequently have to answer the question “why do I have to take this course?”
The nursing stats course at Lakehead (Quantitative Methods for the Health Scientist) gets into some pretty rigorous and high-level statistical methods and concepts. Much more than the average clinical nurse will be using in their day-to-day job. So, I actually incorporate into the first day of lecture notes four reasons for taking the stats course as a nursing student.
To start, here are 4 answers to “why am I taking this stats course as a nursing student”, AKA WIIFM?
- To know how to effectively conduct research – since not every student in the nursing program will exclusively be providing clinical care, and some may continue on to the research side of the healthcare system.
- To be able to read and interpret academic journals – as a practicing nurse, you must be up-to-date on the latest evidence based research. This means not only interpreting the results of a study, but analyzing the methods to see if they are appropriate.
- To develop critical thinking skills – while some of the mathematical content may not apply directly to practical nursing jobs, the logic, reasoning, and ability to stay calm while solving these problems is a huge asset to have as a nurse.
- To be an informed consumer – this applies not just to nursing students, but anyone that lives in our society. Companies and politicians are constantly bombarding us with graphs and statistics to try and get their point across. It’s crucial to recognize when those statistics are telling the truth, and when they’re skewed or biased.
One last WIIFM I can think of from the perspective of any of my students is that Miss Hudyma’s math class is fun. I very consciously try to keep class light-hearted, crack jokes whenever I can, and incorporate games into learning.
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