STUDENT NURSES’ PERCEIVED GAPS IN CLINICAL INSTRUCTION AT MACHAKOS LEVEL-5 HOSPITAL AND CHOGORIA MISSION HOSPITAL, EASTERN REGION OF KENYA: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: Clinical instruction involves teaching students in the clinical area by qualified nurses (clinical instructors) focusing on the care of patients’ needs. It is a personal relationship between a student and clinical instructor. As opposed to classroom teaching which involves learning theory in a classroom setting, clinical instruction prepares students to integrate their previously acquired classroom knowledge with clinical skills and competencies 
 Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish level of clinical Nurses’ preparedness in clinical instruction skills at Machakos level-5 and Chogoria Mission Hospitals, Eastern 
 Region of Kenya 
 Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study done at Machakos Chogoria Mission Hospitals. Methods: The target population included all student nurses from Chogoria School of nursing and KMTC Machakos. A sampling frame of nursing students from the two training institutions to obtain a random sample of 113 senior nursing students to participate in this study. Self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. 
 Results: Student nurses perceived gaps in nurses’ ability to demonstrate a number of effective clinical instruction skills such as timely constructive feedback, response to students’ questions, and nurses’ organization in their wok among others, 
 Conclusion: Findings from this study demonstrate that lack of supervision, delayed feedback and unavailability of nurses to respond to student questions contributed to inadequate clinical instruction among nursing students.