Abstract
Background: In Australia, the Federal government's agenda to increase clinical training places to address the forecast shortfall of nurses is driving innovation in clinical education. A student leadership model of clinical education, named the Student Nurse Led Ward model, was designed for the aged care context to provide a high number of clinical placements for pre-service Bachelor of Nursing students in an under-utilized clinical education setting.
Objectives: The research aimed to determine the viability of the innovation by (1) developing a preliminary understanding of what students were learning and (2) exploring stakeholders' perceptions about student learning.
Design: A mixed methods design included an ageing knowledge test and ageing attitudes survey, both administered before and after the placement, student narratives of a learning event written after the placement as well as focus group and individual interviews with stakeholders.
Setting: Three residential aged care facilities partnering with one university in one Australian jurisdiction.
Participants: Included 35 of the 45 students who began placement in the aged care facilities during one semester, a convenience sample of 15 staff and each of the managers and educators from the three agencies.
Methods: Descriptive statistical analysis of student pre-post knowledge test and attitude survey, hermeneutic analysis of student narratives, and content analysis of individual and group interview data.
Results: There was an increase in student knowledge around sensory changes, delirium, and drug reactions in older people. There was a slight increase in students' expression of ageist attitudes following the clinical experience. The clinical educator position was considered to be critical to the success of the model.
Conclusions: This Student Nurse Led Ward model is a viable model to increase clinical placements, with preliminary evidence in this study suggesting that students benefit through increased knowledge, understanding and capacity to work with older people
Objectives: The research aimed to determine the viability of the innovation by (1) developing a preliminary understanding of what students were learning and (2) exploring stakeholders' perceptions about student learning.
Design: A mixed methods design included an ageing knowledge test and ageing attitudes survey, both administered before and after the placement, student narratives of a learning event written after the placement as well as focus group and individual interviews with stakeholders.
Setting: Three residential aged care facilities partnering with one university in one Australian jurisdiction.
Participants: Included 35 of the 45 students who began placement in the aged care facilities during one semester, a convenience sample of 15 staff and each of the managers and educators from the three agencies.
Methods: Descriptive statistical analysis of student pre-post knowledge test and attitude survey, hermeneutic analysis of student narratives, and content analysis of individual and group interview data.
Results: There was an increase in student knowledge around sensory changes, delirium, and drug reactions in older people. There was a slight increase in students' expression of ageist attitudes following the clinical experience. The clinical educator position was considered to be critical to the success of the model.
Conclusions: This Student Nurse Led Ward model is a viable model to increase clinical placements, with preliminary evidence in this study suggesting that students benefit through increased knowledge, understanding and capacity to work with older people
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 714-719 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Nurse Education Today |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |