Student nurses' level of satisfaction on the clinical learning experience in intensive care units / Aldin D. Gaspar

Acquiring high quality clinical experience within a pedagogically-appropriate clinical learning environment is one of the most important aspects of a nursing program. Evaluating the clinical experience of student nurses is vital in improving various teaching-learning strategies. Integration of nursing theory into practice, specifically in the ICU, is a major concern due to the high acuity of the clinical area and its patients. Thus, determining the satisfaction level of students does not only influence learning goals, but also advances patient safety and quality of nursing care. This study aimed to assess student nurses' level of satisfaction of the clinical learning experience in intensive care units. A quantitative descriptive, correlational study was conducted. Population included fourth-year student nurses who have underwent clinical rotations in different ICUs in a university-based, tertiary, government hospital. Data were collected using the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES+T) tool. The study showed that students were highly satisfied with the clinical learning experience (4.50 ± 0.41), and their satisfaction has been positively related to all five clinical learning environment constructs (p<0.01), namely: pedagogical atmosphere (4.33 ± 0.58), leadership style of the ward manager (4.14 ± 0.60), premises of nursing care in the ward (4.43 ± 0.49), supervisory relationship (4.52 0.50), and role of the nurse teacher (4.70 ± 0.37). There is significant positive correlation between satisfaction of the clinical learning environment, and the frequency of meetings between the student nurses and supervisors (p=0.03). Furthermore, a high percent of students perceived that "role of the nurse teacher" (p=0.009) & "supervisory relationship" (p=0.01) are most important dimensions. This study concludes that student nurses were generally satisfied with clinical learning environment dimensions in the intensive care units.

Nursing.