Promoting purposeful partnerships

The clinical experience component of university based nursing courses has often attracted criticism from students, faculty and clinical agency staff. One way of addressing these difficulties is for stakeholders to engage in open and consistent dialogue. To this end, faculty from the School of Nursing at Griffith University (Gold Coast) initiated a trial of reflection sessions attended by students, clinical facilitators, faculty and clinical agency staff at the completion of each clinical experience. While the outcomes were essentially positive, personal, professional and political risks were revealed as inherent in the reflective process. Awareness of such risks is essential for the development of purposeful partnerships in clinical education.