The critical success factors and impact of prior knowledge to nursing students when transferring nursing knowledge during nursing clinical practise

Background: Nursing practise plays an important role in transferring nursing knowledge to nursing students. From the related literature review, prior knowledge will affect how learners gain new knowledge. There has been no direct examination of the prior knowledge interaction effect on students' performance and its influence on nursing students when evaluating the knowledge transfer success factors. Aim: This study explores (1) the critical success factors in transferring nursing knowledge, (2) the impact of prior knowledge when evaluating the success factors for transferring nursing knowledge. Method: This research utilizes in-depth interviews to probe the initial success factor phase. A total of 422 valid questionnaires were conducted by the authors. The data were analysed by comparing the mean score and t-test between two groups. Results: Seventeen critical success factors were identified by the two groups of students. Twelve items were selected to examine the diversity in the two groups. Conclusion: Students with prior knowledge were more independent than the other group. They also preferred self-directed learning over students without prior knowledge. Students who did not have prior knowledge were eager to take every opportunity to gain experience and more readily adopted new knowledge.