THE FACTORS AFFECTING NURSING STUDENTS’ LEARNING IN CLINICAL PRACTICE
WHAT IS CLINICAL PRACTICE?
Internships are a requirement for almost all professionals outside of healthcare as they progress toward a higher education degree or post-graduation employment. The traditional “internship” has a different meaning for nurses because it focuses on clinical practice. Clinical practice for nurses offers valuable knowledge and practice that may improve patient care in the future. In essence, clinical practices are to nurses what an internship is to business students.
THE FACTORS AFFECTING NURSING STUDENTS’ LEARNING IN CLINICAL PRACTICE:
Numerous factors may have an impact on students’ learning in clinical practice. These elements are classified as student-related problems, clinical-instructor-related, and environment-related problems in the clinical setting. Students can complete clinical placements with a positive learning experience if these factors are properly managed.
1. STUDENT-RELATED FACTORS
Age of the students, prior learning experiences, fear of making a mistake and hurting a patient, deficiencies in establishing and maintaining professional communication with patients and family members, challenges in transitioning from the student role to the nurse role, and degree of readiness for learning have all been identified as factors affecting education during clinical placements. Nursing essay help UK says if these factors are not recognized and managed, student anxiety rises and the ability of the patient, medical staff, and instructor trust to grow is compromised. Determining the characteristics of the student, setting up visits to clinics or wards before placements, and introducing the students to the staff is thus necessary at the start of the educational process.
2. INSTRUCTOR-RELATED FACTORS
It is essential to take instructor characteristics into account. These traits can be divided into two categories, such as personal and professional traits. Learning may be impacted by individual characteristics like the instructor’s age, communication abilities, capacity for self-expression, availability, and accessibility. On the other hand, an instructor’s professional qualities, such as their level of expertise, their methods of instruction and how they affect student learning, how they prefer to receive feedback, how they interact with students and staff, etc., also have an impact on student learning.
According to studies done on this topic by nursing assignment help UK, students want to spend their clinical training with knowledgeable and experienced instructors in their field for more effective learning, that instructor may serve as an example for themselves, and that instructor should be available/reachable for them, that instructor should be more involved in meeting their needs and expectations, that instructor should manage their time well, that instructor should provide on-time and individual feedback, and that instructor should make sure that they are meeting their needs and expectations.
3. HOSPITAL FACTORS
Clinical supervision is impacted by a staffing shortage in the hospital, according to nursing assignment help UK. Additionally, nursing students cited a lack of well-equipped skill laboratories and equipment for performing procedures in the hospital as essential factors affecting clinical practice. They also mentioned a lack of teaching and learning resources, including tools for performing nursing care procedures, also affects learning.
4. EFFECT OF STUDENT’S SOCIAL-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND
According to reports, social and economic factors among nursing students can impact clinical work and lead to psychological issues. The school’s social environment significantly facilitated students’ clinical learning. The majority of nursing students agreed that the financial situation of parents had an impact on clinical practice. Additionally, students stated that they could not afford school supplies due to financial constraints.
CONCLUSION:
Students should be able to develop their clinical reasoning and nursing skills during clinical experiences where they learn the clinical practice. Learning occurs in the real world in situations where simulation learning is either scarce or nonexistent. The clinical training of nursing students is regarded as the cornerstone of nursing practice, even though nursing education is a combination of theoretical and practical learning experiences that enable nursing students to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes for providing nursing care globally. To become responsible, accountable, and independent professionals who can work within the parameters of professional practice, nursing students need to be supported and guided.
