Marjolein Berings, R Poell & P R-J Simons

Dimensions of On-the-Job learning styles in the nursing profession

Hypothesis - if we make employees aware of their OTJ learning styles then they will learn better in the workplace.
Learning styles that are in circulation aren't ideally suited to OTJ learning, but they provide a base to work from.
Selected nursing because of the changes in the profession that are ongoing and varied in nature - technology, medical and environment.

Learning style: Tendency to use a particular combination of approaches to learning, influenced by perceived capabilities and preferences.

From interviews felt that a differentiation between holisitic and analytica learning was more dependant on the type of ward nurses were working on eg between neurological (holistic approach to whole patient condition) and intensive care (analytic focus on vital signs) wards. The nurse educators identified reflection as a method of otj learning and this raised questions from the audience about why this may be so - it was suggested this may be because their nursing training included a lot of reflection.
from this presentation I did not get a feel for whether knowing one's learning style made a difference to nurse's learning on-the-job. This was probably because the study focussed on interviewing supervisors and educators rather than nurses themselves.