Discursive influences on clinical teaching in Australian undergraduate nursing programs

Internationally, the delivery of health services has shifted from secondary to primary care, necessitating an exponential growth of the nursing workforce and expansion of the nursing role in general practice. This growth, and the subsequent need to develop this workforce, has created a need to expose undergraduate nurses to general practice nursing as a viable career option. Concurrently, universities are struggling to find sufficient clinical places for their undergraduate students to gain clinical experience. It is logical, therefore, to increase the number of undergraduate nursing student placements in general practice. Through qualitative research methods, this paper seeks to explore the experiences of practice nurses mentoring undergraduate students on clinical placements within the general practice setting. Findings are presented in the following three themes: (1) Promoting Practice Nursing: We really need to get students in, (2) Mentoring future coworkers: Patience and reassurance, and (3) Reciprocity in learning: It's a bit of a two way street, which show the benefits of such placements. Clinical placements in general practice settings can be mutually beneficial in terms of providing quality teaching and learning experiences for students. Conversely, the experience provides an impetus for practice nurses to maintain currency of their clinical skills and knowledge through mentoring student nurses.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practice nurses experiences of mentoring undergraduate nursing students in Australian general practice

Halcomb¹,

Peters²,

McInnes³

2012

“…The facilitation model in Australia involves the allocation of one registered nurse to a group of approximately eight students who facilitates the learning experiences for these students (McKenna and Wellard, 2004). Both the facilitator and students are supernumerary and generally scattered across 3-4 wards within the hospital.…”

Section: T H E Facilitation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, the clinical demand may overtake the student-preceptor relationship and thereby the learning needs of the students (Spouse, 2001). Staff burnout is also possible (Grealish and Carroll, 1998;McKenna and Wellard, 2004).…”

Section: P R E C E P T O R M O D E Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ perception of the psycho-social clinical learning environment: An evaluation of placement models

Henderson

Twentyman

Heel

et al. 2006

117

SummaryNursing is a practice-based discipline. A supportive environment has been identified as important for the transfer of learning in the clinical context. The aim of the paper was to assess undergraduate nurses' perceptions of the psychosocial characteristics of clinical learning environments within three different clinical placement models. Three hundred and eight-nine undergraduate nursing students rated their perceptions of the psycho-social learning environment using a Clinical Learning Environment Inventory. There were 16 respondents in the Preceptor model category, 269 respondents in the Facilitation model category and 114 respondents in the clinical education unit model across 25 different clinical areas in one tertiary facility. The most positive social climate was associated with the preceptor model. On all sub-scales the median score was rated higher than the two other models. When clinical education units were compared with the standard facilitation model the median score was rated higher in all of the subscales in the Clinical Learning Environment Inventory. These results suggest that while preceptoring is an effective clinical placement strategy that provides psycho-social support for students, clinical education units that are more sustainable through their placement of greater numbers of students, can pro-vide greater psycho-social support for students than traditional models.

“…This move has involved the transition of nursing education from a service-orientated course to an academic discipline (McKenna & Wellard, 2004). In addition to the need for the development of tertiary level nursing curricula, this transition has also placed a strain on the nursing education workforce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Casualisation of the teaching workforce: Implications for nursing education

Halcomb

Andrew

Peters

et al. 2010

Internationally, nursing faculty shortages have been reported and there is a potential for them to worsen into the next decade as existing faculty age. To, in part, address this issue, across disciplines there is clearly an international trend towards the increasing casualisation of the higher education workforce. Despite the potential impact of this two-tiered workforce structure, there has been limited examination of the discipline specific issues related to the employment of a growing number of sessional nursing staff. This paper provides a critical review of the literature related to the employment of sessional teachers in higher education. The paper advances the discourse around the role and implications of employing sessional teachers in undergraduate nursing schools. Recommendations for supporting sessional staff and further research are presented. Casualisation of the teaching workforce: Implications for nursing education SummaryInternationally, nursing faculty shortages have been reported and there is a potential for them to worsen into the next decade as existing faculty age. To, in part, address this issue, across disciplines there is clearly an international trend towards the increasing casualisation of the higher education workforce. Despite the potential impact of this twotiered workforce structure, there has been limited examination of the discipline specific issues related to the employment of a growing number of sessional nursing staff. This paper provides a critical review of the literature related to the employment of sessional teachers in higher education. The paper advances the discourse around the role and implications of employing sessional teachers in undergraduate nursing schools.Recommendations for supporting sessional staff and further research are presented.