Partnering With Clinicians Supporting Nursing Students' Clinical Placement at a Regional Hospital

BACKGROUND

Innovative models are required to maximize nursing student placements in environments of shrinking budgets, increasing hospital demands, and casualization and aging of the workforce. This article reports the success of a service-academic partnership in a dedicated education unit.

METHOD

This cross-sectional observational study in a regional hospital analyzed survey data using validated tools completed by buddy nurses (n = 80) and postplacement evaluation completed by students (n = 102) and the nurse leadership team (n = 17).

RESULTS

Postimplementation, nursing student placement days increased, and participants were positive about the partnership. Although most of the nursing students (n = 96) reported they were very or extremely satisfied with their placement, they rated student facilitators higher than their buddy nurses.

CONCLUSION

Increasing enrollments will not solve the nursing workforce shortage unless student placements of quality and quantity are provided. Partnership in support of clinical staff remains critical to create time to provide quality supervision. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(9):619-625.].

Registered nurses' perceptions of nursing student preceptorship: Content analysis of open-ended survey questions

Nursing preceptors play a crucial role in supporting and educating clinical students. Understanding the perceptions and needs of nurse preceptors is essential to enhance their role as preceptors and to improve their teaching practices. This study aimed to explore preceptorship in diverse settings and specific contexts. Content analysis was performed to analyze open-ended responses from a questionnaire based on nurses' perceptions of preceptorship with undergraduate nursing students. Data were collected from two university hospitals, with different healthcare provision levels. Of the 370 responses, 295 (96%) were those of women, and 34.5% were in the age group of 41-50 years. Three main themes were identified: (1) the role of preceptorship as a key component in learning, (2) challenges in student preceptorship, and (3) personal recognition and compensation for teaching work. This study highlights the positive experiences and provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by nurse preceptors in their teaching roles, and emphasizes the need for institutional support and educational programs to enhance their teaching responsibilities. Improving communication and collaboration among stakeholders is crucial for improving learning outcomes and satisfaction.

Nursing Students' and Nurse Preceptors' Perspectives of an Ambulatory Dedicated Education Unit in Primary Care and General Internal Medicine

BACKGROUND

The sustainability of prelicensure nursing clinical learning models within ambulatory care is dependent on strong partnership and the availability of ambulatory nurse preceptors. Evaluation of preceptor and student satisfaction with ambulatory clinical experiences is necessary to identify program strengths and opportunities.

METHOD

Nursing students' and nurse preceptors' perceptions of an ambulatory dedicated education unit (DEU) in primary care and general internal medicine practices were measured from 2021 to 2023.

RESULTS

Students' survey responses indicated a high level of agreement for 20 (90.9%) of 22 items in 2021, 35 (100%) of 35 items in 2022, and 32 (91.4%) of 35 items in 2023. Preceptor responses demonstrated favorable agreement with all of the work-life satisfaction across the 3 years of the survey, with the exception of one question on the 2021 survey.

CONCLUSION

Nursing students and staff nurse preceptors found the ambulatory DEU teaching and learning experience to be positive and satisfying. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(3):171-177.].

Undergraduate Nursing Students' Readiness to Practice: Views of the Senior Students in the United Arab Emirates

BACKGROUND

Nursing literature identifies difficulties facing new graduates in managing their responsibilities as registered nurses. The ability of new graduates to be practice-ready upon entry to the workplace remains a challenging concern for nurse educators.

PURPOSE

This study investigated the perceptions of senior students toward their readiness to practice safely and independently and perform registered nurses' job-specific requirements upon graduation.

METHODS

A descriptive design using quantitative and qualitative methods was used to conduct the study. Data were collected from a sample of 117 senior nursing students in the United Arab Emirates using the Casey-Fink Readiness to Practice Survey.

RESULTS

Senior students felt confident to manage the care of 2 to 3 patients, communicate with patients and interdisciplinary teams, solve clinical problems, prioritize patients' care, and recognize significant changes in patient conditions. Areas of concern were their ability to care for more than 3 patients, among others, such as caring for dying patients and performing catheter insertion/irrigation.

CONCLUSION

Students need better learning opportunities and closer guidance, support, and on-time feedback in clinical settings.

A phenomenographic study exploring the conceptions of stakeholders on their teaching and learning roles in nursing education

BACKGROUND

Nursing education involves a number of stakeholders in the teaching and learning process, and these are student nurses, lecturers, clinical instructors and nurses. The role that each of these parties play in the teaching and learning process is dependent on each other and is key to the development of competence among student nurses. However, there is scanty literature on the discourse of how these stakeholders conceptualise their roles to maximise student learning. The objective of this study was to explore the conceptions of stakeholders on their teaching and learning roles in nursing education.

METHODS

Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with nursing students, lecturers, clinical educators at a Namibian nursing college and nurses at teaching hospitals. Phenomenographic data analysis approach was applied.

RESULTS

Four conceptions were constructed that described the level of involvement of the different parties in teaching and learning. These were initiating, supporting, becoming part of and owning the teaching and learning role. Three dimensions of variation marked the differences among the conceptions: responsibility and accountability, priorities and level of collaboration.

CONCLUSIONS

The parties involved in the teaching and learning in nursing education have qualitatively different understating of their roles and those of others. There is a pattern transcending from being at the periphery of teaching and learning to taking ownership of teaching and learning. And a movement from limited responsibility and collaboration to that of being responsible, accountable and high level of collaboration in the teaching and learning of nursing students. The conceptions in this study add more ways of enhancing collaboration between theoretical and clinical sites in nursing education, by ensuring that those involved are aware of their role and that of others and work collaboratively at the micro-level.

The Learning Environment of Student Nurses During Clinical Placement: A Qualitative Case Study of a Student-Dense Ward

Introduction

Ensuring the quality of clinical placements has long been a challenge in nursing education. This is partly due to a growing aging population requiring health services, and an increased need for nursing workforce. Both in Norway and internationally, there is a rise in the use of student-dense models, wherein several students are placed together on the same ward at the same time where the supervision of the students is the collective responsibility of the nurses.

Objective

The aim of this study was to explore factors that promote or inhibit learning in a student-dense ward when used as a model for clinical placement in hospitals. We examined how clinical placement is experienced in a student-dense ward, as well as how learning is facilitated.

Methods

A qualitative case study design was used to capture the learning environment on the student-dense ward in a comprehensive way. We used focus group interviews, in-depth interviews, and observations with students and employees at a major hospital in Norway.

Results

Our findings showed that the orientation days and the teaching activities in student-dense wards, the feedback students receive, the clinical facilitator's role and the student community were factors that had particular importance for good learning environments in this placement model.

Conclusions

To ensure the quality of clinical placements, more attention should be paid to these factors in the planning, organization, and facilitation of new and existing student-dense wards. It is paramount to provide students with thorough written feedback and to secure the clinical facilitators with enough time to conduct student supervision when organizing clinical placement as student-dense wards.

Implementing dedicated nursing clinical education unit: Nursing students' and preceptors' perspectives

BACKGROUND

The Dedicated Education Unit is a clinical learning model designated to deliver more targeted learning opportunities and enhance student nurses learning capacity. It provides students with more opportunities to develop their skills, experience different learning events, consolidate their knowledge, and build their professional nursing identity.

METHODS

The study followed a convergent parallel mixed-method design to investigate the nursing students and the nursing preceptors' perceptions of the Dedicated Education Unit model at Mafraq hospital. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from a sample of sixty-seven nursing students and 20 nursing preceptors from March to May 2019.

RESULTS

The overall results of the study were positive. Nursing preceptors were confident to communicate and constructively interact, motivate, and facilitate students' learning. However, they requested better support and more free time to supervise and answer students' questions. Nursing students reported positive learning at the dedicated units. However, they requested more support from nursing preceptors.

CONCLUSION

Implementing a Dedicated Education Unit model supported the nursing preceptors' role and enhanced nursing students' learning opportunities and hands-on experiences. Achieving a positive effect of the dedicated nursing clinical education unit requires constant collaboration between healthcare facilities and nursing education programs to maximize nursing students learning.