Nursing students’ perception of clinical learning Environment: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

A qualitative study was conducted to identify the factors affecting the clinical learning of fourth year students undergoing Bachelors in nursing training. Data was collected through in-depth interview among 12 students till data saturation happened. Graneheim and Lundman approach of content analysis was used in this research to analyze data. Three main categories were extracted namely relationships, expectations of nurse educators and nurse practitioners and preclinical preparation. It was found that teaching learning process was enhanced by a cordial relationship among peer group, health team members and their teachers. The incongruence in the expectation of nursing faculty and staff nurses was a hindrance in their learning experience. There is a huge gap in the real bed side nursing that is being practiced and that is being taught in institutions. Inadequate preclinical preparation and lack of close clinical supervision was also deterrent for learning process. It was concluded that the theory practice gap that currently exists can be bridged to a certain extend by restructuring the health care setting by incorporating and duly recognizing the factors that act as motivators of learning and minimizing the impeding factors.