Benner, P. (1984). From novice to expert, excellence and power in clinical nursing practice. Menlo Park, CA: Addison‐Wesley Publishing Company, 307 pp., $12.95 (soft cover)

Clinical supervisors’ perceptions of podiatry students’ preparedness for clinical placement and graduates’ preparedness for podiatry practice in Australia: An exploratory study

“…Benner described novices as task-focused, which is demonstrated in our results, with fourth-year students being more concerned about achieving sign-off on outcomes from their supervisor than interacting with the patient. As advanced beginners, students' patient care requires back-up by supervisors to ensure important patient needs do not go unattended (e.g., we found students lacked the manual clinical skill to conservatively manage an ingrown toenail in fourth year) (Benner, 1984).…”

“…Variable performance on placement with respect to key occupational skills, such as challenges and deficiencies when undertaking physical examinations and certain procedures (e.g., scalpel debridement of callous, corn removal and toenail cutting) and communication skills with patients, especially at final-year level, were identified by a number of clinical supervisors. Benner's (1984) application of the Dreyfus model posits that in the acquisition and development of a skill, a learner passes through five stages of ability. Such reported deficiencies in clinical and communication skills suggest students match more of the elements of the first two stages (novice and advanced beginner) than those of the third stage (competent).…”

“…Transcribed interviews were thematically analysed. Benner's (1984) stages of clinical competence from novice to expert informed the study.…”

“…This study, thus, set out to explore clinical supervisors' perceptions of (1) the preparedness of podiatry students for clinical placements, (2) the preparedness of graduates for clinical practice and ( 3) the perceived challenges for student clinical placement preparation and related recommendations for clinical placement and graduate practice. Benner's (1984) concept of competence used in nursing informed this study, as it can be applied to skill acquisition in podiatry (Lima et al, 2014). Benner's concept of competence is based on the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, in which, during training and clinical practice, an individual passes through five developmental levels of skill acquisition from novice through advanced beginner, competent, proficient and, finally, to expert after several years in practice.…”

“…Transcribed interviews were thematically analysed. Benner's (1984) stages of clinical competence from novice to expert informed the study.Results: Clinical supervisors were divided about students' preparedness for clinical placements, with their perceptions ranging from generally prepared (n = 2) to unsure (n = 5) to unprepared (n = 4). They commented on junior versus senior students, institutional differences and specific clinical skill deficiencies, e.g., scalpel debridement and patient communication skills.…”