An evaluation of Bachelor of Nursing students’ perceptions of clinical placement experiences.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 global pandemic had positive and negative impacts on health care workers, including student nurses. Different clinical areas provide unique learning opportunities, with students reporting varying levels of satisfaction across their different clinical placements in the years prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal data evaluating clinical experiences was collected from 2017 until 2022. Aim: This evaluation sought to determine the pandemic’s impact on student nurses’ perceptions of their clinical experience and identify which clinical learning environments provided optimal learning experiences. Methods: The study analysed 2,012 datasets using quantitative statistical analysis with a descriptive cross-sectional design. Bachelor of Nursing students at Ara Institute of Canterbury Limited (ARA) completed the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher Scale (CLES+T) survey after completion of their clinical placements. Findings: Students rated their clinical learning experiences highly (mean 4.5 ±0.5), with no impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the transition to practice (transition) placement was viewed more positively than other clinical areas, and while statistically significant, in this particular context, this difference was deemed to be trivial. This might be attributed to students’ increased readiness to practice in their final semester and having some choice in placement location. Implications for practice: Nursing management from both clinical providers and tertiary institutions should address lower-scored areas through enhanced preparatory education. Feedback from students can guide nursing management in performance reviews of tertiary and clinical staff, and support nurses and educators to provide quality clinical experiences. Consideration of an alternative questionnaire may improve amount and quality of information gathered to better guide the tertiary institutions and clinical providers. Collaboration between clinical providers and academic institutions as well as building resilience and willingness to change when major events occur are opportunities for consideration, as well as more robust orientation periods within the clinical setting to allow for a better settling in period for students. Early identification and workload support for preceptors, along with robust post-placement debriefings, can help students better connect theory with practice.