Clinical Educator’s views on students’ clinical learning environment

Clinical instructor and clinical learning environment are parameters that contribute significantly to the clinical education of students. Purpose: To investigate nurses’ views about their role as a clinical instructor and the clinical learning environment. Material and Method: The sample of this descriptive study consisted of 94 nurses who worked in hospitals of Attica and in departments where students were being trained (May-July 2013). A questionnaire/special form of 30 questions was used for data collection concerning their demographic characteristics, opinions on the educational environment, the attitude in the educational process, opinions on the clinical instructor and educational needs. The results are presented in frequencies and percentages. Results: The majority of the sample were women 83% (n=78) aged 36-40 years old 28.7% (n=27) with 11-15 years of job experience 31.9% (n=30). 16 %(n=15) had a Master’s degree and 3.2% (n=3) held a doctorate. According to the responses nurses apply the functional system of care (54.3%) but recognize as best for education (61.7%) the total patient care. The 51.1% described the educational environment as moderate and 47.9% as excellent. The clinical setting according to 59.6% contributes by 70% -100% in the learning experience. The nurses’ rounds and nursing report were deemed important learning opportunities from 79.8% and 76.6% respectively. 85% of students follow nurses’ rounds, while the gap between theory and practice was characterized very high by 50% of nurses. A large percentage (74.5%) would like to attend also a special education program. Conclusion: Nurses recognize the role of the clinical instructor and the significance of the learning environment and wish to have special training to be able to plan educational experiences

Keywords: Clinical instructor, clinical environment, supervision