Clinical nurses as teachers of nursing students

A questionnaire survey of 304 nurses working in clinical areas of 16 hospitals was conducted to investigate the nurses' attitudes to teaching university nursing students during clinical placements. The survey also identified the information and support that clinicians needed to assist them in their teaching role. The study found that most participants saw teaching students as a part of their role; they felt adequately prepared to teach and gained satisfaction from it. Clinicians needed information about students' level of nursing education and what universities expected their students to gain from clinical placements. They expected university clinical teachers to be accessible and to be involved with teaching their students clinical aspects of practice. Less than half the RNs thought that students on clinical placements were adequately taught by their universities' clinical teachers.