Nursing home use for clinical rotations: Taking a second look

Abstract

Because of the high acuity level of hospitalized clients and the rapid increase in aging populations, the placement of beginning fundamental students in a nursing home setting should be taken into more serious consideration. Thus, the purpose of the present paper was to describe the advantages and disadvantages of using nursing homes as clinical sites for baccalaureate of science in nursing education based on a comprehensive review of the literature. The main advantages are the wide spectrum of health needs, stable census, and regularly scheduled treatments in nursing homes. The main disadvantages are lack of adequate role models, lack of preparation and interest of the nursing faculty in working with the elderly, and potential for creating negative attitudes toward the elderly and their care.

Nursing students' attitudes toward persons who are aged: An integrative review

“…Previous theoretical and empirical works on the attitudes of nursing students toward persons who are aged suggested a negative association between nursing students' attitudes and their lack of interest in pursuing careers in geriatric nursing. As negative attitudes increased, interest in careers in geriatric nursing decreased (Chen et al, 2002;Boswell and Polizzi, 2003;Cozort, 2008). However, it is unclear what similarities exist across theoretical and empirical reports about how nursing students' attitudes change, when they change, and what changes them.…”

Effectiveness of Supervised Intergenerational Service Learning in Long-term Care Facilities on the Attitudes, Self-transcendence, and Caring Behaviors Among Nursing Students: A Quasiexperimental Study

“…Plus, nursing homes are not able to represent all types of LTCFs. Additionally, nursing homes as learning facilities for nursing students have the potential to trigger students' negative attitudes toward elders: the result can be negative perceptions of working with elders (Happell, 2002) and loss of interest in being health care professionals (Chen, Melcher, Witucki, & McKibben, 2002). A study of 32 senior nursing students by Williams, Nowak, and Scobee (2006) showed that nurses in LTCFs require a strong self-concept and specialized communication skills Downloaded by [Umeå University Library] at 08:27 01 April 2015 to delegate tasks effectively.…”

DEVELOPING POSITIVE ATTITUDESToward Geriatric NursingAmong Millennials and Generation Xers

“…Marsland and Hickey (2003) found that caring for the elderly in long-term care (LTC) facilities was perceived negatively by nursing students and that the clinical experience only served to reinforce negative perceptions. Some studies have shown that nursing home clinical placement has been found to improve nursing students' negative attitudes toward the elderly when clinical placement occurred in quality LTC facilities and clinical instructors had positive attitudes (Chen, Melcher, Witucki, & McKibben, 2002;Hartley, Bentz, & Ellis, 1995;Mueller, Goering, Talley, & Zaccagnini, 2011;Sheffler, 1998). Clinical experiences with healthy, communitydwelling older adults have been shown to positively improve student attitudes toward working with older adults and should be part of the gerontological nursing experience (Burbank, Dowling-Castronovo, Crowther, & Capezuti, 2006;Furze, Lohman, & Mu, 2008).…”