Preparing for practice: Nursing intern and faculty perceptions on clinical experiences

Clinical experience and exposure to real patients are required elements of nursing education. Trainees in nursing are expected to be prepared adequately for the hard-working environment, increasing patient complexity, and higher-level competencies. This study investigates differences between nursing interns and clinical faculty on actual and perceived importance of educational preparation and development of clinical competencies, focusing on the nursing curriculum and transition to practice.

A convenient sampling technique with a mixed-methods design was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data, by surveying and interviewing nursing interns and faculty members from King Abdul-Aziz University in Saudi Arabia; data collection occurred in December 2015. The survey (23 items) and focused interviews measured perceptions of clinical instruction and experience. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyze differences in mean ratings between actual and perceived importance. Themes collected from narrative interview data were summarized.

Significant differences were found between nursing interns (n = 46) and faculty (n = 29) perceptions of actual clinical teaching and experiences and its importance including the clinical teaching and the development of clinical competence, p < .01. Moreover, nursing interns rated actual experiences of knowledge base and skills significantly lower than faculty perceptions, p = .001. Narrative data provided in-depth information on factors contributing and hindering the learning and teaching environment.

Findings from this study call for clinical instruction and experiences to take a step further to meet current practice standards and to improve patient safety in the health professions education of nurses.