Faculty and student dialogue through journal writing.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Clinical Pedagogy
• Healthcare Professional Development

Background:

• Clinical experiences are crucial for nursing students' professional development.
• Effective communication and mentorship are vital during acute care pediatric rotations.
• Traditional feedback methods may not fully capture affective learning outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of journal writing in facilitating student-faculty dialogue.
• To explore how this dialogue impacts the student experience in pediatric acute care settings.
• To understand the influence of journal writing on professional growth and self-awareness.

Main Methods:

• Utilized unstructured, self-report data from student clinical journal entries.
• Conducted a focus group interview for qualitative data collection.
• Applied content analysis to identify recurrent themes in student reflections.

Main Results:

• Identified 'building a bond of trust' as a key theme.
• Recognized 'saving face' as another significant theme emerging from student journals.
• Qualitative analysis revealed the impact of dialogue on student-faculty relationships.

Conclusions:

• Journal writing fosters trust and facilitates open communication in clinical settings.
• This reflective practice supports the recognition of affective learning, including self-awareness and professional growth.
• Implications for preceptors include integrating journal writing to enhance teaching-learning in practice environments.