Practice placement supervision: the role of the personal tutor

Confusion regarding the role of the nurse teacher in clinical practice has resulted in a service being offered to students that varies in type, quantity and quality as perceived by students, teachers and placement staff alike: The role of the personal tutor is concerned with helping the students to develop both professionally and academically. To facilitate this, a good interpersonal relationship between student and personal tutor is essential. As interpersonal relationships take time to develop, the author advocates capitalizing on the relationship that (usually) already exists between personal tutors and students, and extending this into practice placement areas. The aim of this piece of research was to ascertain the value, as perceived by the students, of having the personal tutor supervise them in college as well as in the four branch placements of foundation studies. The methodology employed was a descriptive study utilizing a self-administered questionnaire. The population was the students in foundation studies of the Lothian College of Health Studies, and the sample was one of convenience, i.e. one cohort of students. The findings demonstrated that 55 students (n = 94) perceived value in having one nurse teacher supervising them in college and in placements compared with 39 students who did not perceive any value. The students were asked about their practice placement supervision by nurse teachers in terms of type, quantity and quality of teaching. The students in the former group rated their practice placement supervision much lower than students in the latter group.