| Learning Objective #1: Describe the most important characteristics of effective clinical teaching | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Identify faculty development initiatives which would be helpful to the teaching clinician |
The education of entry level and advanced practice nurses requires significant curricular attention to provision of instruction in the clinical setting. Clinical teaching activities are often the responsibility of licensed, credentialed practitioners with whom the student has frequent contact. The quality of clinical education is related in many ways to the teaching effectiveness of clinical instructors. For example, in the preparation of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), and nurse practitioners (NPs), contact hours devoted to clinical instruction far exceed those received in the classroom setting. Thus, it is important for program administrators and faculty to use a reliable and valid instrument to assess the quality of clinical instruction. The literature review indicates limited availability of instruments to measure clinical teaching effectiveness related to the preparation of advanced practice nurses. In this study, 305 students attending several nurse anesthesia programs in the U.S. each completed two surveys describing 27 characteristics pertaining to clinical teaching behaviors. Each student rated one clinical instructor they perceived to be the most effective teacher and one clinical instructor perceived to be the least effective using a 5 point Likert scale. Student demographic data such as age, gender, length of time in program along with instructor gender was analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis was done to identify usable sub-scales. Comparison of sub-scales were used to identify differences between demographic characteristics of students. The results of this study will be presented and helpful in providing clinical faculty with a reliable indicator of their teaching effectiveness, contribute important information towards program and curriculum evaluation as well as direct faculty development efforts towards improving the clinical education of nurses preparing for advanced practice. In addition, this study strives to improve and foster the partnership which exists between the classroom faculty and teaching clinician.
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