Nursing Students’ and Teachers’ Perspectives on Clinical Education in Kuwait

Abstract

Clinical education is the heart of nursing curriculum. An insight into the different perspectives could facilitate its improvement. AIMS: This descriptive, cross-sectional study aims to assess the nursing students’ and teachers’ perspectives on clinical education in Kuwait. METHODS: The study includes all faculty members of the Bachelor and Associate Degree in Nursing Programs from the College of Nursing, Kuwait (16 teachers and 12 trainers) and 120 students selected through convenient sampling from levels one to five of the Associate Degree in Nursing Program. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaire and were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Aside from descriptive statistics, T-test was utilized to compare the students’ perspectives with that of the teachers. ANOVA was used to determine any difference in the perspectives according to various factors. A significant p-value was set at less than 0.05. RESULTS: Main findings of the study illustrate six items related to the state of clinical education deemed significant by both students and teachers, namely: hospital management collaboration in resolving problems of students (p = .001); collaboration and supervision of education (p = .003); access to welfare facilities at bedside and adequacy to educational facilities at bedside with p values of .004 and .002 respectively; development of skills in nursing process implementation (p = .010) and development of patient education skills (p = .028). Factors which can potentially create problems were the lack of appropriate scientific background in the ward (p=0.047) and students wandering in the absence of instructor (p=0.025).CONCLUSION: Students’ and teachers’ perspectives on the state of clinical education in Kuwait and the factors which may potentially create problem areas have basic commonalities, focusing on the importance of collaboration between the clinical agency and the educational institution and between those actually involved in supervision of the students - the clinical staff and school faculty. RECOMMENDATION: This study recommends conducting similar studies on a wider scale, considering the technological thrusts prompted by global circumstances like the pandemic.

Keywords: Nursing students; Teachers; Perspectives; Clinical Educatio

DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/82-07

Publication date: November 30^th 2020