This study compared the perceptions of Associate (ADN) and Baccalaureate (BSN) nursing faculty and students regarding undergraduate critical care nursing education.

The purposes were to: (1) identify attitides and beliefs of ADN and BSN nursing faculty and students regarding undergraduate critical care nursing education; (2) explore the extent to which faculty perceptions differ in relation to student perceptions; (3) explore the extent to which faculty perceptions differ in relation to the types of program in which they are teaching; (4) explore the extent to which faculty perceptions differ in relation to their demographic and biographic characteristics; and (5) explore the extent to which student perceptions differ in relation to students in the alternative program of study.

The Critical Care Nursing Education Questionnaire, was developed for use in this study by the investigator and administered to 50 Associate and Baccalaureate nursing faculty and 211 Associate and Baccalaureate nursing students. Descriptive and inferential statistical procedures were used to analyze the group responses. Significant differences were identified by ANOVA testing of the eight null hypotheses and led to rejection of four null hypotheses at the .05 level of significance.

Perceptions of faculty regarding undergraduate critical care nursing education include: (1) instruction should be offered at the baccalaureate level of undergraduate nursing education; (2) students should be permitted to perform critical care nursing procedures under the guidance of a critical care nurse or nursing instructor; (3) such instruction should be general in nature, offered over one full semester with between 48 and 96 hours of clinical experience; (4) instruction should be an elective available to all senior students; (5) the intensive care unit is not threatening for students, rather undergraduate critical care nursing education helps students gain confidence in their basic nursing skills; and (6) upon graduation, students should not be expected to function as practitioners of critical care nursing.

Students were in stronger agreement with such instruction being required in all undergraduate nursing programs. Baccalaureate students were more likely to believe that upon graduation the nurse should have the knowledge and skill to function as a beginning practitioner of critical care nursing.

All faculty and students indicated that undergraduate exposure to critical care nursing is important.