Clinical Scholar Model: providing excellence in clinical supervision of nursing students.

The Clinical Scholar Model (CSM) is a practice-education partnership focused on improving the outcomes of clinical nursing education by bridging the academic and service settings. An expert clinical nurse serves as a clinical scholar (CS) to coordinate, supervise, and evaluate the clinical education of nursing students in collaboration with school of nursing faculty. This article describes the model's evolution, how the model is differentiated from traditional clinical instruction roles and responsibilities, and the benefits to the collaborating clinical agency and school of nursing.     

Clinical learning environment and supervision of international nursing students: A cross-sectional study

BackgroundPreviously, it has been shown that the clinical learning environment causes challenges for international nursing students, but there is a lack of empirical evidence relating to the background factors explaining and influencing the outcomes.ObjectiveTo describe international and national students' perceptions of their clinical learning environment and supervision, and explain the related background factors.DesignAn explorative cross-sectional design was used in a study conducted in eight universities of applied sciences in Finland during September 2015–May 2016.MethodsAll nursing students studying English language degree programs were invited to answer a self-administered questionnaire based on both the clinical learning environment, supervision and nurse teacher scale and Cultural and Linguistic Diversity scale with additional background questions. Participants (n = 329) included international (n = 231) and Finnish (n = 98) nursing students. Binary logistic regression was used to identify background factors relating to the clinical learning environment and supervision.ResultsInternational students at a beginner level in Finnish perceived the pedagogical atmosphere as worse than native speakers. In comparison to native speakers, these international students generally needed greater support from the nurse teacher at their university. Students at an intermediate level in Finnish reported two times fewer negative encounters in cultural diversity at their clinical placement than the beginners.ConclusionTo facilitate a successful learning experience, international nursing students require a sufficient level of competence in the native language when conducting clinical placements. Educational interventions in language education are required to test causal effects on students' success in the clinical learning environment.     

Inspiring nursing students to mobilize communities in Nepal

In 1987 nurse educators in Nepal implemented a revised certificate nursing curriculum oriented toward primary health care (PHC) and a bachelor of community health nursing (CHN) curriculum with emphasis on leadership in PHC. As both curricula included practical experience for nursing students in the community, the teachers had to strategize how to maximize both the students' learning and their contribution to community health. Below, how the educators encouraged reluctant students to not only participate in PHC activities but also change their negative attitudes about working in remote areas of Nepal.     

Blended learning in ethics education: a survey of nursing students

Nurses are experiencing new ethical issues as a result of global developments and changes in health care. With health care becoming increasingly sophisticated, and countries facing challenges of graying population, ethical issues involved in health care are bound to expand in quantity and in depth. Blended learning rather as a combination of multiple delivery media designed to promote meaningful learning. Specifically, this study was focused on two questions: (1) the students' satisfaction and attitudes as members of a scenario-based learning process in a blended learning environment; (2) the relationship between students' satisfaction ratings of nursing ethics course and their attitudes in the blended learning environment. In total, 99 senior undergraduate nursing students currently studying at a public nursing college in Taiwan were invited to participate in this study. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted in this study. The participants were asked to fill out two Likert-scale questionnaire surveys: CAAS (Case Analysis Attitude Scale), and BLSS (Blended Learning Satisfaction Scale). The results showed what students felt about their blended learning experiences - mostly items ranged from 3.27-3.76 (the highest score is 5). Another self-assessment of scenario analysis instrument revealed the mean scores ranged from 2.87-4.19. Nearly 57.8% of the participants rated the course 'extremely helpful' or 'very helpful.' This study showed statistically significant correlations (r=0.43) between students' satisfaction with blended learning and case analysis attitudes. In addition, results testified to a potential of the blended learning model proposed in this study to bridge the gap between students and instructors and the one between students and their peers, which are typical of blended learning, and to create meaningful learning by employing blended pedagogical consideration in the course design. The use of scenario instruction enables students to develop critical analysis and problem solving skills through active learning and social exchange of ideas.     

Attitudes toward death: a survey of nursing students.

The literature devoted to the topics of death and care of the dying is expanding rapidly. As nurses are inevitably involved in terminal illness, death and grief, their attitudes toward death and factors which affect these attitudes, are worthy of study. This report describes the results of a continuing two-year survey of one class of students in a baccalaureate nursing program. A questionnaire was used at the beginning and end of one academic year. Data were obtained regarding background experiences with death, involvement in the care of dying patients, and common ideas, concerns and feelings about death. Data from the second testing also included perceived changes in "positive" and "negative" attitudes toward death, and the relative effect on attitudes of various factors during the year. Suggestions are offered for curriculum development and research in the challenging area of death education in nursing.     

The nature of clinical supervision in psychiatric nursing: a survey of clinical specialists

There is a growing body of theory and research on clinical supervision within other mental health disciplines; however, there has been little study of clinical supervision within psychiatric mental health nursing. This article reports the results of a survey of 61 psychiatric mental health specialists to determine their attitudes toward selected supervisory issues. Two-thirds of the respondents had received further supervision beyond the master's degree, one-half reported a personal psychotherapy experience, and one-half were certified in psychiatric mental health nursing. There were significant differences of opinion between clinical nurse specialists who were certified and those who were not and between those who reported a personal therapy experience and those who did not. The authors suggest that more attention be paid to the development of curriculum content regarding clinical supervision in graduate nursing programs. In addition, they recommend further research on the topic of clinical supervision in psychiatric mental health nursing.     

Community-based nursing education of prelicensure students: settings and supervision

This study of prelicensure nursing programs had a fourfold purpose: 1) describe what community-based settings are being used by faculties in associate degree (AD) and baccalaureate degree (BSN) programs to provide community-based nursing care experiences; 2) explore whether or not the settings used in AD and BSN programs differ; 3) describe how faculties in AD and BSN programs provide for supervision of students in community-based settings; and 4) synthesize from the data what might be best practices for faculty-student supervision in community-based settings. A web-based survey was sent to 827 accredited AD and BSN programs with usable email addresses; 324 programs (39 percent) completed and returned the surveys. Findings indicated that students were placed in a variety of settings, including public health departments, schools (K-12), prisons, and home care. Community-based activities were in the following categories: immunizations, surveillance, data collection, health teaching, case management, treatments, and procedures. Depending on the activity, students performed nursing functions independently 4 percent to 39 percent of the time. Depending on the activity, preceptors were sole supervisors 27 percent to 40 percent of the time. Telephones, cell phones, and pagers were the primary means of faculty-student contact. AD and BSN students in the same settings performed the same activities. The only significant differences were that BSN students were placed in K-12 schools for community-based experiences more often than AD students, and they engaged in case management more often than AD students. Based on these findings, a model for community-based education is proposed.     

Model for investigating the benefits of clinical supervision in psychiatric nursing: a survey study

The objective of this study was to test a model for analysing the possible benefits of clinical supervision. The model suggested a pathway from participation to effectiveness to benefits of clinical supervision, and included possible influences of individual and workplace factors. The study sample was 136 nursing staff members in permanent employment on nine general psychiatric wards and at four community mental health centres at a Danish psychiatric university hospital. Data were collected by means of a set of questionnaires. Participation in clinical supervision was associated with the effectiveness of clinical supervision, as measured by the Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale (MCSS). Furthermore, MCSS scores were associated with benefits, such as increased job satisfaction, vitality, rational coping and less stress, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. Multivariate analyses indicated that certain individual and workplace factors were related to subscales of the MCSS, as well as some of the benefits. The study supported the suggested model, but methodological limitations apply.     

Issues in the supervision of postgraduate research students in nursing

Some general points are made in this paper about the nature of postgraduate research degrees, and the process which results in a thesis is set out These are followed by considering the degrees in a nursing context and also in relation to the social sciences Next the aims of postgraduate research degree programmes are considered Approaches to the matching of students are set out Among those discussed are mentoring, collegiality, classification and framing, and the use of workshops In the conclusion, some desired outcomes of the supervisory process are suggested     

Smoking among Japanese nursing students: nationwide survey

AIM: This paper reports a study estimating the nationwide prevalence of and attitudes towards smoking among Japanese nursing students. BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization established "World No Tobacco Day" in 1987, and has been promoting antismoking measures worldwide since then, with annual themes. It has emphasized that health care professionals, including nurses, as role models for healthy living, should not smoke, and that as promoters of health education they should not seem to justify or condone their patients' smoking. To promote antismoking measures among nurses, it will be necessary to scrutinize the smoking habits and behavior of nursing students and associated factors, and to conduct effective antismoking education and health education before they acquire the smoking habit. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out through self-administered, closed-ended, structured questionnaires. Questionnaires were mailed to 4169 nursing students at 27 randomly selected vocational nursing schools nationwide. Smoking status, history, and attitudes towards smoking were examined. RESULTS: Smoking prevalence among female nursing students was 23.5%, which was higher than that among the Japanese general female population aged 20-29 (21.9%). Smoker-students were significantly more positive toward smoking than non-smokers in all opinions about health care professionals' smoking. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that smoking statuses of the people around the participants, dissatisfaction with being a nursing student, and living alone were associated with participants' smoking behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study suggest an urgent necessity to provide effective antismoking measures for nursing students.     

Group clinical supervision for mental health nursing students

Clinical supervision is recognized as important for developing safe professional practice in nursing. Although attention has been given to the development of training and education in clinical supervision for registered nurses, less discussion exists regarding these issues for pre-registration mental health nursing student to the theory and practice of group clinical supervision. In particular, this article raises awareness and promotes discussion of the practical issues involved in such an initiative.     

Educating teachers of nursing: a survey of the opinions of students

In this paper an account of an opinion survey is reported, which was carried out in order to determine how student teachers of nursing rated aspects of their course. The opinion survey included questions on pedagogical and education studies, teaching practice, research methods, statistics, related science and supporting studies. In the last section the method of course assessment is evaluated. Finally there is a discussion about the implications and limitations of the survey.