Management of clinical failure in Canadian nursing programs

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Legal Aspects in Healthcare
• Quality Assurance in Education

Background:

• Nurse educators express concerns about potential litigation from nursing students dissatisfied with clinical performance evaluations.
• Existing institutional policies and procedures for student clinical evaluation may not adequately address these concerns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the relationship between institutional policies and procedures and student clinical evaluation practices in Canadian nursing programs.
• To identify specific areas of concern in the clinical evaluation process that could lead to litigation.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive survey with a cross-sectional design was employed.
• The study surveyed diploma and basic baccalaureate nursing programs across Canada (N=94), achieving an 86.2% response rate.
• Data analysis included descriptive statistics and reliability assessment using contingency tables.

Main Results:

• A lack of standardized faculty evaluation criteria was identified.
• Clinical instructors were found to evaluate students independently.
• Inconsistencies were noted, including overlapping review board memberships, inadequate hearing procedures, and non-nurse influence on faculty judgments.

Conclusions:

• Canadian nursing programs exhibit significant deficiencies in policies and procedures governing student clinical evaluations.
• These gaps may increase the risk of litigation and compromise the integrity of the evaluation process.
• Recommendations for policy and procedural improvements are warranted to ensure fair and defensible student appraisals.