Clinical supervision and support for bridging programme students in the greater Durban area

Reviewed literature revealed that clinical supervision is a conceptually sound learning model, which, unfortunately, is flawed by problems of implementation. Some of the more glaring problems include limited emphasis upon problem-solving, lack of clear expectations for student performance, inadequate feedback to students, inappropriate role models in clinical settings and inadequately prepared clinical teachers. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the nature of clinical supervision and support provided to bridging programme students in the clinical settings. Participants were drawn from three nursing colleges and 122 participants returned questionnaires. College 1:26, 2% (n = 32), College 2:15, 6% (n = 19) and the majority, 58, 2% (n = 71) were from College 3. The participants were second year students in the Bridging Programme. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of the hospitals. The researcher purposively selected those hospitals offering the Bridging Programme. The students were randomly sampled. According to Burns and Grove (2001), simple random sampling is the most basic and most effective of the probably sampling methods. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and a critical incident report. The questionnaire used in this study was adapted from the Manchester Clinical Supervision Instrument. The findings revealed that clinical supervision contributes positively to the academic, professional and personal development of students. Although there was support for clinical supervision by the nursing staff, time for clinical supervision was the main problem. Clinical supervision was viewed as time consuming. Clinical learning emerged as secondary to ward routine. The students functioned as part of the workforce and missed out on some important learning opportunities. Results also showed that some clinical supervisors were not adequately prepared for their roles and responsibilities; as a result there was no significant relationship between clinical supervision sessions and the acquisition of knowledge. The critical incidence revealed positive and negative experiences regarding clinical supervision and the support provided by clinical supervisors and clinical staff. There is a need for clear policies regarding clinical supervision, a structured and well monitored process of clinical supervision, building the capacity of clinical supervisors, and addressing the issues of use of bridging programme students as part of the workforce.