ABSTRACT
Background: Commencing clinical practice is a main milestone in the educational journey of undergraduate nursing students as it indicates the beginning of their professional life. The clinical training experience is frequently described as stressful and challenging for nursing students. Objective: s: This study was conducted mainly to examine, explore and interpret nursing students' perceptions of the challenges they faced as nursing students during their clinical experience. Setting: College of Nursing at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Participants: A total of 32 undergraduates nursing students who were enrolled in the nursing program and had finished at least one clinical course from their study plan. Method: Data were collected using focus group discussions. A total of 32 participants were recruited and six focus groups were conducted. Data was transcribed and it was analyzed using thematic analysis. Result: Two main themes were identified, and under each theme, several subthemes were merged. The two main themes are: challenges that hindered self-directed learning, which included instructor approach and nurse approach, and challenges that hindered experiential learning, which included theory-practice gap, insufficient practice, lack of confidence and evaluation methods. Conclusi: on: This study provided insights into the challenges that hindered the effectiveness of clinical nursing education. Several recommendations were proposed to maximize the benefits of clinical practice and to create less stressful environments.
ABSTRACT
AIMS: Nursing faculty members play a pivotal role in the achievement of nursing students' learning outcomes. A broader understanding of what constitutes effective teaching is essential in order to ensure that effective learning takes place in the clinical area. This review sought to identify the most and least effective nursing faculty characteristics as perceived by nursing students. METHODS: An integrative review of the literature was undertaken. Studies were sourced from the following electronic databases: PsycINFO, PubMed Central, CINAHL, Medline and Scopus. An electronic search of relevant studies published between 2001 and 2017 was conducted using the following search terms: 'nursing', 'students', 'nurse faculty', 'nurse tutor', 'nurse educator', 'effective', 'clinical education', 'effectiveness', 'clinical instructor', 'nurse instructor', 'teaching behaviour', and 'teaching characteristics'. FINDINGS: Twenty-nine articles met the inclusion criteria. This review revealed that nursing students value nursing faculty's competence and interpersonal skills over their personality traits. Furthermore, the review highlighted that there exists a lack of studies that examine individual factors, which may influence nursing students' choice of teaching behaviours. Future studies linking teaching behaviours and nursing student learning outcomes are recommended. CONCLUSION: Nursing faculty must strive to improve their professional competence and interpersonal skills in order to better provide quality education to nursing students.
