Journal of Nursing Education
Year:2012 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Introduction: During clinical education, students are evaluated to ensure their success in achieving clinical learning's outcomes. Evaluation as an important role of nurse instructors brings challenges to both students and instructors. Students’ perspectives have a crucial importance in improving the quality of the evaluation process in the educational system. The purpose of this study was to determine nursing students’ experiences and perspectives on the clinical characteristics of instructors’ in clinical evaluation.Methods: A qualitative design using a content analysis approach was used to gather and analyze data. A purposive sampling method was utilized to choose 40 nursing students from schools of nursing and midwifery in Tehran, Iran. Six semi structured focus group interviews were held with the students to collect data.Results: Three themes and seven subthemes were developed during data analysis: “professional issues” (competency, presence and engagement, skill of feedback and evaluation), “personal characteristics” (interest, respect and support), evaluation necessities (justice, practical evaluation).Conclusion: Evaluation of nursing students’ in clinical practice is one of the most important and challenging roles of nurse instructors. Attending to students’ perspectives can help remove barriers to the implementation of a high quality evaluation process.

Introduction: Clinical practice is the most important place to familiarize nursing students with the realities of nursing practice. In this respect, nurses play a significant role in the familiarization process. The purpose of this study was to explore nursing students and instructors’ understanding on the role of nurses in the development of motivating for clinical learning in nursing students.Methods: A qualitative design with a content analysis approach was used to gather and analyze data.16 nursing students and 4 nurse instructors from two Medical Science Universities were interviewed using semi-structured interviews.Results: During data analysis two categories were developed: “Transition from the challenges of nursing profession” and “impact of nurses’ performance on students’ motivation for clinical learning”. Each category had three and four subcategories, respectively.Conclusion: It was indicated that nursing profession’s issues, cultural and social conditions, organizational issues, evidence-based practice, decision making based on authority rather than routines, respecting patients’ rights or violating their legal privacy indirectly affected students’ motivation for learning. But nurses’ relationship with students directly affected their motivation for learning. Nurses’ awareness of their role in students’ motivation for clinical learning play a significant role in improving the quality of clinical education. In addition, inspiring clinical learning in students requires the optimization of nursing profession conditions as well as nurses’ empowerment.

Introduction: The success of clinical education as a critical element of nursing curriculum, needs the effective collaboration and interaction between nursing schools and clinical settings. The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives experiences of preceptors and students on the implementation of the preceptorship model in clinical practice training.Methods: A qualitative design with a content analysis approach was used to collect and analyze data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nursing students and nurse preceptors chosen using purposive sampling. They were consisted of 15 nursing students and 3 nurse preceptors after participating in a perceptorship program in clinical practice.Results: Data analysis was result in the development of 10 themes: “becoming goal-oriented”, “becoming cooperative”, “capturing learning opportunities”, “responsibility regarding student's teaching”, “security vs. confusion”, “belonging to the nursing team”, “student advocacy”, “gradual acceptance of the model”, “acquiring independence”, and “fair evaluation”.Conclusion: The preceptorship model is a suitable teaching method in clinical practice, which provides good learning opportunities in order to transfer fundaments skills and professional competences to nursing students.

Introduction: Patient empowerment is an effective way to reach behavioral changes in diabetes control. The purpose of this study was conducted to investigate the effect of the educational program based on the empowerment model on distress and diabetes control in patients with type 2 diabetes.Methods: A RCT was conducted with 140 patients with type 2 diabetes randomly allocated to intervention and control group. In the intervention group, patients were divided to five groups with 14 patients in each group and participated in the empowerment model-based education program. In the control group, the traditional education was held. Patients’ empowerment and diabetes control were assessed using the diabetes distress questionnaires and HbA1C, respectively.Results: It was revealed that a diabetes distress was reduced significantly in the intervention group in comparison to the control group. It was also found that with decreasing diabetes distress, the level of HbA1C diminished in the intervention group.Conclusion: Education based on the empowerment model in the intervention group resulted in reducing diabetes distress and improving diabetes control in comparison to the traditional education.

Introduction: Understanding the factors affecting the development of self-regulatory learning and goal orientation in students is important, because of their main role in the teaching and learning process. Critical thinking is one of the constructs related to students’ self-regulatory learning and goal orientation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between critical thinking with goal orientation and self-regulatory learning in nursing students of Islamic Azad University, Shahroud Branch.Methods: A descriptive-correlational study with 104 undergraduate nursing students was conducted. A stratified random sampling method was used to choose the students. Data was gathered using the Student Achievement Goal Orientation Questionnaire by Midgely et al. (1998), Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire by Pintrich and De Groot (1990), and Critical Thinking Skills Questionnaire, California (Form B).Results: The mean of students’ goal achievement was 92±19.4, self-regulated learning was 103.5±14.7, and critical thinking was 9.2±2.7. A significant positive correlation was reported between goal achievement and self-regulatory learning (P<0.01), but there was no significant correlation between critical thinking with self-regulatory learning and goal achievement. The analysis component of critical thinking was correlated with the cognitive component of being self-regulatory (P<0.01). Three variables including mastery goal orientation, approach-performance goal orientation, and the analysis of critical thinking were 39.9% effective in predicting self-regulatory learning (P=0.000). In the regression analysis, it was shown that students with higher mastery goal orientation and more ability to analysis have better self-regulatory strategies.Conclusion: While critical thinking is one of the effective components of cognitive processes in students. In this respect, the higher level of critical thinking in students and their use of deep processing strategies in their own learning, may improve their goal orientation and their ability to choose more effective self-regulatory strategies. If the aim of the nursing profession is to train nurses who are able to control their own purposes and be self-directed, the mission of nursing schools must be to promote and teach critical thinking to students. Furthermore, nurse instructors must change their traditional method of teaching and evaluation of learning outcomes.

Introduction: Evaluation of the clinical skills of nurses and other healthcare professionals is a challenge. Studies indicate that methods used to evaluate nursing students’ skills are not appropriate to educational aims. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical skills of nursing students by themselves, peers and the clinical teacher in medical and surgical wards of hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences.Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to conduct this study. All junior nursing students attending a medical-surgical internship program were chosen. At the end of the internship program, students’ clinical skills were evaluated by themselves, peers and the clinical teacher. Nursing Students’ Clinical Skills’ Form was used for data collection and descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.Results: In the domains of clinical skills, and responsibility - respect, there were significant differences between the clinical teacher, peers, and students’ scores.However, no such a significant difference was reported between the scores of self and peer evaluation. In the domains of clinical skills and communication, there were no significant differences between all scores. Moreover, in clinical skills and communication domains, a significant correlation was found between peer and self scores. In responsibility - respect and communication domains, a significant correlation was shown between the scores of self and clinical teacher.Conclusion: In order to improve students’ feelings of responsibility, critical thinking and communication skills, self-learning, and respect to others during the internship program, it is suggested to consider the self-, peer, and clinical teacher's evaluation as the student's activity in clinical practice.

Introduction: Urinary disorders can affect patient's quality of life extensively. Therefore, providing education using teaching methods that are congruent with patients’ needs are necessary for patients at the discharge time. Thus, this study was performed aimed to compare the effect of face to face teaching and the educational booklet on patient's learning after urologic surgical procedures.Methods: A clinical trial design was used with 200 patients discharged after surgeries for urolithiasis (n=110) and prostatic hypertrophy (n=90). Two researcher made questionnaires were used to evaluate patients’ knowledge on self-care for each of the diseases. Patients were selected through consecutive sampling and were randomly assigned into two teaching groups (n=100 in each group) regardless of their diseases. After a pretest, education was provided to them and a post-test was held using the same questionnaires after the intervention.Results: No significant difference was found in patients’ learning between the two teaching methods. It was found that in the face to face teaching method, patients’ learning was related to the educational level (r=0.27, P=0.006), duration of hospitalization (r=0.24, P=0.014) and age (r=-0.28, P=0.004).Conclusion: Both the educational methods had the same effect regarding provision of education to patients with urinary system disorders. However, patients’ age and educational level negatively impacted their learning in the face to face method. Thus, applying more than one method in education to such patients is recommended.

Introduction: The operating room is a complicated system, which coordinates the person, technology, and patient in a physical environment to achieve optimal outcomes. Therefore, improving knowledge and skills of nurses in the operating room is essential. However, the studies indicate that nursing students may not be prepared enough to practice in clinical settings. Due to the lack of students’ efficiency in clinical situations, the shortage of nurse instructors, lack of education-practice cooperation, there is a need to change clinical teaching methods. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of peer clinical education model on the expected level of competency in operating room students.Methods: This was a pre-experimental design. All operating room freshman students, including 28 people who were passing their clinical course in the Central Sterilization Room at a teaching hospital participated in this study. At the beginning of implementing this model, the curriculum outline such as course objectives, logbook, and evaluation practices was developed. Students were divided into five groups with maximum six members in each. The peer clinical teaching method was used to teach students. At the end, the expected level of competency in operating room students was evaluated.Results: Most students (80%) estimated their competency level to be 4 to 5 (X=3.33±0.76, CI=3.01-3.65). They showed a maximum competency in packaging instruments for sterilizing and the minimum competency in working with chemical disinfectant solutions. In addition, over 70% of students believed that they gained necessary guidance on the packing and preparing surgical instruments and using autoclave. They were also satisfied for making communication with the head nurse, and being accepted by ward's staff.Conclusion: Since this educational model emphasizes on the collaboration between skillful staff during clinical training, its implementation in nursing education is recommended.