Learning Environment For Student Nurses Research Articles

Exploration of health and health behaviours of undergraduate nursing students: a multi-methods study in two countries

Background Nurses play a vital role in health promotion, and there may be a link between a nurse’s own lifestyle practices and how they educate others. Supporting health and well-being in student nurses is critical given they will be educating others once registered and practicing. Objectives To explore the health and health behaviours of undergraduate nursing and midwifery students considering the demands of their profession, their public health role and their ability to be role models. Design Multi-methods study. Methods Undergraduate nursing students in the second and third years of their programme were invited to self-complete a health and health behaviour questionnaire in a Scottish and Australian Higher Education Institution. Qualitative data were collected from a convenience sample of 20 third-year nursing and midwifery students. Results Two hundred and thirty-five Scottish students and 113 Australian students, 175 (85%) and 84 (74%), respectively, completed the questionnaire. Some differences and similarities were noted across groups, in particular, perceived physical health, the prevalence of binge drinking, smoking and being overweight/obese and some dietary measures were found to be less favourable among Scottish students. There were worryingly high levels of poor mental well-being at both higher education institutions, with scores on a mental well-being scale suggesting that (82) 34.7% of Scottish students and 33 (29.6%) of Australian students were at risk of depression. Nine Scottish students and 11 Australian students were interviewed. Key contributors and barriers to healthy behaviours were noted across both groups of students in relation to lifestyle. Students perceived that certain elements of their curriculum had implications on their ability or motivation to make healthy lifestyle choices. Conclusion The poor health and health behaviours of future nurses need to be addressed in their higher education to shape resilient role models for future nursing practice. Impact Statement Priority should be given to supportive learning environments for student nurses that foster emotional support and encourage healthy lifestyles.

Creating Effective Post-Pandemic Psychiatric Nursing Clinical Experiences Using the Roy Adaptation Model.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted students in psychiatric clinical rotations. Clinicals were frequently limited or canceled, restricting exposure of student nurses to this experience. Many modifications led to permanent changes in the psychiatric clinical setting. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide a cohesive approach to serving student nurses in the post-pandemic psychiatric clinical setting. A theoretical exploration of the literature framed by the Roy Adaptation Model (RAM) was conducted. Results are presented using the four modes of the theory: Physiological, Self-Concept, Role Function, and Interdependence. Findings include strategies to enhance student learning while supporting students' health and wellness. Educators and practitioners should provide high-quality, safe learning environments for student nurses.

Crowdsourcing in Nursing Education: A Possibility of Creating a Personalized Online Learning Environment for Student Nurses in the Post-COVID Era

The widespread COVID-19 pandemic has not only posed a major health threat in Taiwan but also has challenged the nursing pedagogy. Both academia and the education industry are calling for a radical change of nursing pedagogy. Under such a call, the present study investigates an online collaborative knowledge co-construction mechanism—Crowdsourcing Collaborative Learning Strategy (CCLS)—to help student nurses acquire and practice functional knowledge on clinical operations targeted to the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) at anytime and anywhere via the internet service. A t-test on the pre-and-post test between the control and experimental group explained the effectiveness of the CCLS online platform. Two questionnaires were used to explore students’ perception of the effectiveness and the usefulness of the CCLS online platform. The findings suggested the CCLS online platform can help students to revisit their clinical performance via the recorded videos, facilitate student nurses’ self-reflection on their performance, and help student nurses to minimize the academic-practice gap. Participants in this study scored the CCLS online platform as helpful and easy to use during the learning process.

South Korean nursing students' experiences of clinical practice in the newborn nursery and neonatal intensive care unit: A phenomenological study.

PurposeWhile clinical practice is crucial for nursing students to acquire the skills needed to provide professional, high-quality nursing care, further studies on improving undergraduate nursing programs are needed to provide a supportive clinical learning environment for student nurses. This study aimed to understand nursing students' clinical experiences in newborn nurseries and neonatal intensive care units and to provide basic data for the establishment of strategies to promote effective clinical education.MethodsInterviews were held with 15 nursing students at J University who had clinical practice experience in the newborn nursery and neonatal intensive care unit. The collected data were analyzed using the phenomenological analysis method developed by Colaizzi (1978).ResultsThe nursing students' experiences were grouped into four categories: expectations for and anxiety about clinical practice, acquisition of a wide range of knowledge regarding neonatal nursing, challenges faced in clinical practice, and experiencing interpersonal changes.ConclusionThe current neonatal practice nursing education system provides students with positive learning experiences. However, the lack of practice opportunities, insufficient instruction, and the theory-practice gap were identified as major issues hindering students' learning needs. These study results are expected to provide basic data for curriculum development to improve undergraduate nursing education.

The art of clinical supervision program: its impact on nurses attitudes towards nursing students

Background: Increasing health professional student numbers in Australia, in response to looming predicted workforce shortages, resulted in a Federal Government call for action to provide clinical supervision education to health professionals. Objectives: This research aimed to develop, implement and evaluate the programme, ‘The Art of Clinical Supervision’ (ACS), designed to support nurses facilitate a positive learning environment for student nurses. Method: The ACS programme was presented (n = 199) across Western Australia as a doctoral study, with participants from both the public and private healthcare sector working in a variety of specialties. A triangulation approach of surveys, reflective entries and interviews was utilised to determine its impact. Results: The data indicated that participants improved their understanding of supervision and attitude towards students and supervision after attending the ACS. Conclusions: Health service managers are encouraged to evaluate their staffs’ knowledge and attitude towards students with findings used to facilitate a positive learning culture.Impact Statement: The Art of Clinical SupervisionThe purpose of the research was to develop, implement and review a new education programme that could support the development of clinical supervision knowledge and attitude to support student nurse learning. This occurred in an environment of increased student numbers as a strategy to correct a predicted looming workforce shortage.The study findings determined that the programme improved both participant knowledge about how to provide effective clinical supervision (teaching) in the clinical environment, and improved staff attitudes towards students and their place as a learner in the clinical areas.The type of impact was therefore within the domain of quality by improving student learning through effective education strategy.As a result of the doctoral research, involving 200 participants, a Federal Government grant of approx. $500,000 was received to facilitate the training of additional educators to provide the programme across the state of Western Australia. This grant was a partnership between the programme author (researcher) and the Western Australian Government Department of Health. This involved four educators presenting the programme to over 3,000 health professionals in a 3-year period. Despite the cessation of funds with the closure of HWA the programme continues to be delivered through The University of Notre Dame Australia School of Nursing and Midwifery, with only a cost recovery charge.

Challenges in clinical learning: experiences of Maldivian nursing students

Clinical practice is an essential part of nursing education. It provides opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge, and develop skills. Nursing faculty need to identify ways to improve clinical learning for students. The aim of this paper was to obtain an understanding of experiences of clinical learning environment for Maldivian nursing students. A qualitative descriptive design was used and informed consent was obtained from all students. Data was collected from 20 students of Maldives National University, using four focus group discussions. Focus group interviews that lasted approximately one hour were conducted. The interviews were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were red multiple times to gain an understanding of students experiences. Discussions that related to students clinical experiences were extracted and coded under different themes. Mentors, clinical learning opportunities, clinical evaluation, and student feelings were found to be important components of clinical learning. Interpersonal relationships and communication with mentors were found to be important for motivation of students. Factors in the CLE enabled students to make good use of learning opportunities while other factors hindered their learning. Students felt that clinical evaluation was unfair and not reflective of their achievements. Students experienced a number of positive and negative feelings due to their experiences in the CLE. A number of factors present in the CLE could prevent it from becoming an effective learning environment for student nurses. It is important that nurse educators identify these and find ways to improve the effectiveness of the CLE.

Experiences of Student Nurses and Midwives at Selected Hospitals in the Volta Region of Ghana

Introduction : Nursing and midwifery are practice-based professions and require that student nurses and midwives learn how to become professional nurses and midwives in the clinical environment. Evidence obtained from research studies demonstrate that student nurses and midwives have various experiences during clinical placements. Though there are eighteen hospitals in the Volta Regions of Ghana that serve as clinical training environments for six nursing and midwifery schools, a search of literature identified no study on the experiences of student nurses and midwives in these clinical settings. Aim : This study sought to explore the experiences of student nurses and midwives in clinical placement in selected hospitals in the Volta Region of Ghana. Materials and Methods : This study was conducted using exploratory qualitative design. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. Thirty student nurses and midwives who were placed in the Volta Regional Hospital, Ho Municipal Hospital and Keta Municipal Hospital of Ghana were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Recorded interviews were transcribed, reviewed several times by researcher, and analysed using content analysis. Findings : Four main thematic categories were identified; 1. Nursing and midwifery practice is honourable but a sacrifice. 2. Missed objectives and expectations during clinical placements; 3. Experiences of fears and anxieties before and during clinical placement; 4. Poor interpersonal relations between students and staff during clinical placement. Conclusion : A supportive clinical learning environment is a pre-requisite to acquisition of skills in the clinical setting by nursing and midwifery students. Provision of supportive clinical learning environment for student nurses and midwives is the responsibilities of both nursing schools and health facilities. Ghanaian nursing schools may also explore the subject of simulation in skills laboratory in areas where students do not benefit during clinical placements.

Student nurses in critical care: benefits and challenges of critical care as a learning environment for student nurses

This article is a literature view of student nurses' experiences of critical care and the value of their experience to the nursing community. To explore the literature in relation to the value of critical care as a learning environment, the experiences and perceptions of student nurses in critical care and the impact of mentors on the experience. The shortage of critical care nurses and increasing numbers of acutely ill patients being cared for outside critical care areas has highlighted the importance of nurses being equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills to care for such patients. Student nurses have been experiencing critical care for many years and though it is accepted that it can be a stressful environment, there has been little empirical evidence of this. As anxiety has been said to interfere with learning, how much of an impact can this have and can anything be done about it? Using Medline, CINAHL and British Nursing Index (BNI) and search terms including nursing students or student nurses, critical or intensive care and perceptions, expectations or pre-conceptions, a literature search was carried out. Some articles explored registered nurses experiences, despite the titles, so this was set as an exclusion criteria. Critical care offers a wealth of learning opportunities which are only available in high acuity areas. Though students can be very anxious before commencing their placements, mentors and higher education play an important part in helping them overcome this. The challenge is how to work together to provide effective support systems for the benefit of the students.

Leadership for learning: a literature study of leadership for learning in clinical practice

To report a literature study of leadership for learning in clinical practice in the United Kingdom. Background Previous research in the United Kingdom showed that the ward sister was central to creating a positive learning environment for student nurses. Since the 1990s, the ward mentor has emerged as the key to student nurses' learning in the United Kingdom. A literature study of new leadership roles and their influence on student nurse learning (restricted to the United Kingdom) which includes an analysis of ten qualitative interviews with stakeholders in higher education in the United Kingdom undertaken as part of the literature study. Learning in clinical placements is led by practice teaching roles such as mentors, clinical practice facilitators and practice educators rather than new leadership roles. However, workforce changes in clinical placements has restricted the opportunities for trained nurses to role model caring activities for student nurses and university based lecturers are increasingly distant from clinical practice. Leadership for learning in clinical practice poses three unresolved questions for nurse managers, practitioners and educators - what is nursing, what should student nurses learn and from whom? Leadership for student nurse learning has passed to new learning and teaching roles with Trusts and away from nursing managers. This has implications for workforce planning and role modelling within the profession.

Clinical learning environments for student nurses: Key indices from two studies compared over a 25 year period

In 1978, a longitudinal study commenced in England to illuminate criteria for the evaluation of hospital wards as clinical learning environments for student nurses. It derived measures to quantify the clinical learning experienced by 71 students in three cohorts in three training hospitals over their entire programme. In 2003, a second study, based in one English School of Health Studies, using clinical placements in three NHS trusts, employed a retrospective, cross-sectional, analytic survey design with anonymised, self-completion questionnaires, to map the clinical learning of 272 students as part of a quality assurance and enhancement initiative. This paper explores changes over time by comparing data based on five key indices, devised in the first study and revisited in the second. Concepts of clinical learning and supervision are reviewed as part of this changing context and background together with limitations implicit in the comparison. The findings suggest an average 20% improvement in the quality of hospital based clinical learning environments over a 25 year period, based mainly on trained staff personally supervising students more extensively, testing their theoretical knowledge more frequently and spending more time performing practical procedures with them. However, unacceptable variations in clinical learning opportunities persist for some students.

Development of a meaningful learning environment in theatres.

During the 1990s, geographical distancing of clinical areas and nurse education establishments led to breakdowns in communication. This article focuses on how Good Hope Hospital NHS Trust and the University of Central England in Birmingham created a meaningful learning environment for student nurses in the operating theatre using a revised version of Crofts and Taylor's (1996) perioperative placement model. The student evaluation has demonstrated that the quality of placement, teaching and supervision were of a high standard and students felt that their nursing skills had been enriched as a direct result of the placement. This article will also examine the background to student placements in the operating theatre.

An audit tool forassessing the learning environment for Project 2000

In preparation for the introduction ofProject 2000 throughout Scotland, a need was identified to monitor the quality of the learning environment for student nurses in the practice setting. No mechanism existed to measure quality and standards, and a group was formed to devise, pilot and implement an educational audit tool which could address these requirements, since limited information was available in the literature. Using this tool, the group subsequently examined the learning opportunities available, concentrating on the physical environment, the learning climate/environment, and the students' perceptions of the learning environment within the practice setting, across hospital and community sectors, including residential accommodation and nurseries, in the wide geographical area covered by the health board. This paper describes the process bywhich the tool was formulated, tested and implemented, the problems encountered, and the improvements in communications between teaching and clinical staff, leading to improved opportunities for the provision of excellence in patient care.

Student nurse appraisal of placement (SNAP): an attempt to provide objective measures of the learning environment based on qualitative and quantitative evaluations

Many nurse researchers have emphasised the importance of good clinical learning environments for student nurses. However, there is less emphasis on how measures of the learning environment can be communicated clearly and objectively to educationalists and clinical staff. This paper attempts to show how the findings of a self-administered student nurse appraisal of placement (SNAP) form can be presented in both qualitative and quantitative terms. A questionnaire was specially designed to provide objective and valid feedback from students, and the learning environments of three wards were compared.

Community placement: auditing the quality.

The second article in this two-part series analyses the development of an educational audit tool to examine the quality of the learning environment for student nurses undergoing community placement. Deficits in existing tools are identified and rationales suggested to overcome perceived problems. The article also discusses the issues which emerged during the piloting of the tool and its value as an audit instrument.

Clinical Areas as Learning Environments for Student Nurses

In January 1989 a working group, made up of college and service staff, was formed with the remit of devising a method of assessing the suitability of a clinical area for student nurses to learn the practice of nursing. The group interpreted the remit as the identification of the quality of the learning environment offered by clinical areas. Other UK nursing colleges had devised methods of assessing the quality of learning environments but the working group felt that those studied were too subjective. The group felt that responses to quality matters which were in the form of statements were too difficult to compare and therefore to use as standard‐setting tools. By means of questionnaires, grading forms and direct observation numerical scores were applied to each factor, giving the possibility of setting numerical standards. A pilot study was undertaken which showed the method to be a feasible approach to measuring quality, although some of the measuring methods used require to be refined and the pilot repeated several times to give values to the figures attained.

Factors influencing the quality of wards as learning environments for student nurses

A main aim of the Clinical Learning Project at the Nursing Education Research Unit, Chelsea College, is to provide criteria for the evaluation of hospital wards as learning environments. The project, which is concerned specifically with student nurses, is attempting to identify factors promoting and inhibiting the clinical learning of this group. This paper will present some of the results of the projects’s pilot research. We should emphasise that, although numbers are small in this pilot study, we are now following up certain aspects of this work in a longitudinal study.