[An overview of clinical practice education models for nursing students: a literature review]

. An overview of education models for nursing students clinical practice: a literature review.

In the past decade the nursing education research developed and tested a number of clinical educational models.

To describe the most used clinical educational models and to analyze their strengths and weaknesses in fostering the learning processes of nursing students.

A literature review of studies on clinical education models for undergraduate nursing student, published in English, was performed. Electronic database Pubmed and Cinhal were searched until November 2016.

Nineteen studies were included in the review and five clinical education model identified: 1) the university tutor supervises a group of students and selects learning opportunities; 2) a clinical expert/tutor nurse works side by side with one student; 3) the student is responsible of his/her learning process with the supervision of the ward staff; 4) a clinical tutor of the ward is dedicated to the students' supervision; 5) the student is not assigned to a ward but clinical learning opportunities matched with his/her needs are selected by the university.

All the clinical education models shared the focus on students' learning needs. Their specific characteristics better suit them for different stages of students' education and to different clinical settings.