Clinical education facilitators: a literature review

The aim of this literature review, set within an Irish context, is to present a broad overview of former and existing clinical support personnel, explore the concept of facilitation and examine what is known about the role of the clinical education facilitator.

The importance of providing a supportive clinical environment to enhance clinical teaching and learning is strongly portrayed in the literature. While the past two decades have borne witness to various clinical support personnel, the literature identifies conflicting demands that these personnel face. No suggestions are advanced as to how to overcome these difficulties, which inevitably influence the quality and quantity of their clinical teaching role. An identifiable gap exists over who has prime responsibility for clinical teaching. It is timely that alternative possibilities for organizing clinical teaching are investigated. A new post emerging in practice settings is that of the clinical education facilitator who is meant to be the key linchpin in clinical areas for reducing the theory-practice gap.

Relevant literature for this review was sourced using the computerized databases CINAHL, Medline and Synergy. Manual searching of relevant nursing journals and sourcing of secondary references extended the search. Government reports and other relevant documents were obtained through pertinent websites.

Papers that explicitly examined the concept of facilitation and explored the posts of clinical education facilitators were included; six research papers were accessed and reviewed. In addition seven non-empirical papers were included.

It is clear that considerable lack of role clarity resides over what constitutes clinical facilitation and the role of the clinical facilitator. Thus, it is paramount to strengthen this support role with Irish empirical evidence.

A major advantage in having a ward-based clinical education facilitator is the benefit of having access to someone who can concentrate solely on clinical education and support with attempts to narrow the theory-practice divide.