A national study of nursing homes as learning environments according to undergraduate nursing student’s perspective

Abstract

Background Nursing students report care of the older people as an undesirable career pathway. Positive clinical placement experiences influence students’ attitudes and career intentions with respect to nursing home (NH) setting. The clinical environment's quality depends on meaningful learning opportunities, the relationship with the preceptors, and the pedagogical atmosphere as influenced by the staff–student interactions. Aim The aim of this study was to explore nursing students’ perceptions on their clinical learning experience and competence learned in the NH setting as compared to other clinical areas. Methods A secondary analysis was performed of an Italian national cross‐sectional study involving 9,607 nursing students attending 95 different three‐year bachelor laureate nursing programmes in 27 universities. A questionnaire exploring individual and nursing programme variables was devised. Moreover, students self‐reported the perceived quality of the clinical learning experience using the Clinical Learning Quality Evaluation Index tool and the degree of competence learned using a four‐point Likert‐type scale. Results Students in the NH setting scored the overall quality of the learning environment significantly higher (p = 0.046) compared to those experiencing other clinical settings, and they scored higher learning occasions (p = 0.002) and self‐directed learning opportunities (p = 0.018). No difference emerged in the perceived mean degree of competences learned at the end of the clinical rotation (p = 0.271). Conclusion Nursing students perceive the NH setting to be a good quality learning environment with valuable learning opportunities and self‐directed learning opportunities compared to other settings. The nursing home setting provides opportunities to acquire clinical competences comparable to the ones in other clinical settings such as hospital units. Implications for practice Nursing home settings should be considered by all nursing programmes as a learning environment particularly worthy for students at different levels of their education.

Nurse preceptors' experiences of promoting and teaching fundamental care to undergraduate nursing students: A qualitative study

“…Previous studies (Frøiland et al, 2021; Gonella et al, 2019) have shown that as clinical settings, nursing homes are an exceptional learning context providing learning situations that vary in complexity. The findings from the current study suggest that social interactions within the learning context of nursing homes contribute to nursing students' learning to provide fundamental care.…”

“…However, with the increased need for educating competent nurses who can meet patients with complex health needs, several studies focusing on preceptorship in the context of primary care have been conducted (Frøiland et al, 2021;Gonella et al, 2019;Ong et al, 2021;Plathe et al, 2021). Although these studies convey the idea that nursing homes offer students learning opportunities, none described fundamental care as the content of the learning activities during students' first-year clinical placement.…”

“…Several studies focusing on nurse preceptorship have been conducted in specialized units or acute care within a hospital context (Macey et al, 2021; Widiawati et al, 2021) or mental care setting (Vuckovic et al, 2019; Vuckovic & Landgren, 2021). However, with the increased need for educating competent nurses who can meet patients with complex health needs, several studies focusing on preceptorship in the context of primary care have been conducted (Frøiland et al, 2021; Gonella et al, 2019; Ong et al, 2021; Plathe et al, 2021). Although these studies convey the idea that nursing homes offer students learning opportunities, none described fundamental care as the content of the learning activities during students' first‐year clinical placement.…”

Learning from nursing students' experiences and perceptions of their clinical placements in nursing homes: An integrative literature review

“…Students generally experienced satisfaction with the nursing home learning environment (Bernsten and Bjork, 2010;Carlson and Idvall., 2014;Gonella et al, 2019) but dissatisfaction with what they believed could be achieved (Xiao et al, 2012;Brynildsen et al, 2014;Watson et al, 2020). Alabaster et al (2007) explored UK nursing students' experiences of working with older people and identified that acute care environments do not always have the time or resources to meet the needs of older people.…”

Simulation as a joint learning activity in clinical placement—interaction between first‐year nursing students and qualified nurses

“…Our findings indicate that introducing simulation training as a learning activity in nursing students' first-year clinical practice has the potential to make their placement in nursing homes more exciting and attractive. The learning activity may respond to and counter the negative attitudes and dissatisfaction with clinical placement in nursing homes, as has been reported in numerous research studies (Glomsås et al, 2019;Gonella et al, 2019). In this learning arena, there is a demand for learning activities that are perceived as interesting and innovative.…”