Skill retention and deliberate practice with first-year nursing students

Nursing students demonstrate skill decay of the sterile technique component in complex skills. Nurse educators need to explore innovative and effective teaching methods such as deliberate practice for foundational skill acquisition that promote the transfer of skills from working memory to long term memory. Donabedian’s framework supported the research question: What is the impact of deliberate practice on skill retention for first-year nursing students performing a sterile technique? After IRB approval, a one-group pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental study explored the relationship between a deliberate practice session (independent variable), and skill retention (dependent variable). With a proxy, the convenience sample of community college nursing students performed a pre-test of setting up a sterile area followed by a deliberate practice session, then returned two weeks later for a post-test. Using SPSS 24 software, descriptive statistics described the participants and McNemar’s test compared the pre and post-tests. The study results were not statistically significant but supported previous research regarding skill decay. All participants (N = 11) contaminated the sterile field in the pre-test and reported mastery after the intervention. In the post-test, over half (n = 6) contaminated the field, and five maintained sterility. The modest increase in skill retention supported the intervention provided some benefit, and the pre-test results demonstrated skill decay does occur. The decay of sterile technique can impact patient safety causing Healthcare-Associated Infections. Deliberate practice may be an effective instructional method to promote skill retention. Nurse educators should ensure the mastery of sterile technique before introducing more complex skills.