Strengthening learning partnerships: Insights from dedicated education units (DEUs) in Norwegian nursing education

To explore central stakeholders' experiences with a DEU pilot project in nursing homes.

Educating competent and professionally skilled nurses is essential for improving the quality of health care services. Clinical education is a crucial component of the undergraduate nursing curriculum and strengthening the collaboration between educational institutions and health care services is necessary to make practical studies relevant and of high quality. The dedicated education unit (DEU) model of clinical teaching and learning has been demonstrated to enhance collaboration and the development of learning partnerships.

A qualitative, descriptive design was used.

Data were collected from five focus groups composed of nursing students, supervisors and nurse managers from seven nursing homes and lecturers from one university. The data were analysed via reflexive thematic text analysis.

The key findings highlight the need to strengthen collaboration between educational institutions and clinical sites to positively develop the learning environment and enhance the quality of clinical practice in nursing education. The findings are presented under three themes: "the need to develop learning partnerships", "working together to enhance competence in clinical supervision" and "challenges in information flow when establishing a DEU".

Strengthening collaboration between educational institutions and the clinical field is crucial for developing learning partnerships to increase the quality of clinical practice and ensure the best possible learning environment. The collaborative nature and structure of the DEU model support the notion that nursing students' clinical practice is the responsibility of both the educational institution and health care services.