Nursing Educators' Experiences Regarding Students' Mistakes in Clinical Settings

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Clinical Practice
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Nursing students' clinical mistakes are common due to the demanding nature of wards.
• Nursing educators are central to supervising and assessing student performance.
• Understanding educators' experiences with student errors is vital for improving clinical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore and describe nursing educators' lived experiences concerning clinical mistakes made by nursing students.
• To identify the challenges and coping mechanisms employed by educators when students err in clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive phenomenological approach was employed.
• Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 14 nursing educators.
• Data analysis followed Colaizzi's seven-stage method, with triangulation and member checking ensuring rigor.

Main Results:

• Three overarching themes emerged: 'encountering an unpleasant event,' 'internal confrontation,' and 'the change in the effectiveness of teaching.'
• Six sub-themes detailed educators' emotional responses, coping strategies, and pedagogical adjustments, including fear of recurrence and efforts to enhance teaching capabilities.

Conclusions:

• Clinical mistakes by nursing students can lead to negative experiences for educators, despite potential learning opportunities.
• There is a need for targeted empowerment programs for novice educators to equip them for effectively managing student errors.
• Further qualitative research is recommended to delineate educators' specific strategies for addressing nursing students' clinical mistakes.