Grading journals in clinical practice: a delicate issue

Offering students opportunities to gain a strong sense of self, a positive professional image, and a chance to articulate their clinical practice is a challenge for nurse educators. Writing journals in clinical placements is one way in which students can create a dialogue with their teacher and reflect upon and explore their clinical experiences in the context in which these experiences occur. However, grading journals according to numerous predetermined criteria can sabotage the benefits and opportunities of writing journals. Judgment and control are two aspects of evaluation and subsequent grading that can sabotage the benefits. Limiting predetermined criteria and not assigning grades to students' journals are two answers to this delicate issue. To function as competent practitioners, nursing students must be able to meet standards of practice; they must achieve a strong sense of self and a positive professional image. Clinical placements offer students the opportunity to explore the experience of clinical nursing and the context in which these experiences unfold. As students acquire skills and explore the practice of nursing, they also face the reality that their instructors will award a judgment of worth to their efforts. This evaluation is necessary to determine whether students have met the required standards. Evaluation and subsequent grades, therefore, must be an integral part of the students' clinical experience. Writing journals is often used as a method of exploring experiences in clinical nursing. Journals are also used as a method of clinical evaluation. Assigning a grade to student journals has a detrimental effect on the purpose of the assignment. An emphasis on exploring the purpose of writing journals and an analysis of the impact that grading has on this exercise will expose the incompatibility between writing and grading journals.