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Abstract
Background: Clinical education is the heart of nursing curriculum. Despite the importance of clinical education as a central part of nursing education, little qualitative literature exists exploring the factors that influence the clinical education of nursing students. The aim of this study was to explore nursing students' experiences of the factors influencing their clinical education.
Methods and Material: A qualitative approach was undertaken in order to investigate nursing students' experiences. Twelve nursing students were purposefully chosen from 119 BSN nursing students at Mashhad University of Medical Science, Mashhad, Iran. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, until data saturation was achieved. Inductive qualitative content analysis was used to analyze interviews.
Results: Three main themes (subthemes) emerge: "being a promoter" (evidence- based care agent, effective communication and course manager); "too hungry to learn" (motivation and acquiring self-confidence) and "unwelcoming field" (educational atmosphere of clinical environment and welfare facilities).
Conclusion: A journey across unwelcoming field was an expression of what students have felt during clinical education in the field. Humanistic approach in clinical field, strongly promotes nursing students' learning and socialization.
Keywords: Nursing; Student; Clinical education; Qualitative
Introduction
Clinical education is a vital component of nursing education. It plays a pivotal role in professional nursing, because it covers about half of the nursing curriculum [1]. It is a set of facilitating activities in clinical settings to provide targeted and measurable changes in students [2]. Clinical education is a complex and dynamic process in which students gain experience and apply knowledge in practice. It occurs through interactions among educators, students, staff, patients and environment [3]. It needs not only a broad and in-depth understanding of all contextual factors but also what is emerging from interactions among them [4]. In fact, clinical environment is a complex context for joining theoretical knowledge and clinical care [5], forcing students to learn how to integrate theory to practice [6,7]. Effective clinical education needs development of critical thinking, skill analysis and management, communication competence and promotion of students' self-confidence, necessary for fulfilling professional role [8]. In addition, nursing students could develop their own theoretical knowledge by being in clinical environment and facing many challenges and issues [9,10].
Studies indicated that clinical field provides a unique opportunity that many educational objectives could...