Perceptions of effective clinical teachers in associate degree programs

This study examined students' and faculty's perceptions of important characteristics of associate degree clinical teachers. Differences in perceptions were compared. Perceptions were measured using the Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory. Associate degree nursing students (N = 199) and faculty (N = 22) from two southwestern community colleges participated in the study. All 48 items were rated highly by both students and faculty, ranging from 3.86 for "Directs students to useful literature in nursing" to 4.85 for "Corrects students' mistakes without belittling them." Students' and faculty's perceptions of important characteristics of effective clinical teachers by subsets were not significantly different. Since few studies on students' and faculty's perceptions have been done at the associate degree level, the results were comparable except for the item "good role modeling," which was not rated as highly in this study as in previous studies of baccalaureate students.