Soap Box
Clinical experience in undergraduate education: Issues and challenges
Corinne Trevitt
Lecturer, School of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Science, University of Canberra, ACT
PP: 270
Abstract
When I speak to nursing practitioners about new graduates, they all stress the need for clinical skills. They are aware that new graduates require support, but expect a reasonable degree of independence. We all expect new graduates to be knowledgeable, competent, reflective performers who integrate theory with practice and do this within a reasonable time frame. I believe this can be achieved with solid undergraduate clinical experience.
Clinical practice remains one of the foundations of an undergraduate nursing degree. Despite this, everywhere I seem to turn, there are threats to the amount, type and quality of clinical experience that students are able to achieve. I have been a clinical teacher in the acute area for 12 years. For the last eight years, I have been a lecturer in a School of Nursing with the responsibility for organising and teaching second year clinical practice.
However, during recent years I, and many of my colleagues, have found it increasingly difficult to maintain clinical hours in the undergraduate program. There have been considerable university funding cuts which impact directly on clinical budgets.
Hospitals have been more reluctant to place students and numbers accepted on each ward have decreased significantly over the last years. These issues have had a considerable impact on availability of quality clinical experiences.
Is clinic practice valuable? It is certainly expensive. How much do nursing students need? This is problematic. There are a number of concepts that can be taught very successfully in a workshop setting, but at some stage students need to embark out into the clinical world.
I believe this is a professional issue, not a university versus practice setting issue. Presently there seems to be a nursing shortage. This means there will be more pressure on new graduates to perform at a very high level although they are novices. The quality and amount of undergraduate clinical practice will need to reflect this. It is time for all nurses to stand together to ensure the funding and support required to produce the type of new graduate we all want is forthcoming.
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