A grounded theory methodology suggested by Charmaz (2010) guided this study design. The purpose of this study was twofold; to theorize the pedagogical practices of clinical nurse educators and to uncover the challenges that participants encountered while teaching in the clinical arena. Exploratory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve clinical nurse educator participants teaching in undergraduate nursing programs in a large metropolitan city in Ontario, Canada. The data was coded and analyzed using the procedures outlined by Corbin and Strauss (2008, 2015) and Charmaz (2010) such as constant comparison, theoretical sampling, theoretical sensitivity and reflexivity. Rigour is this study involved both methodological rigour(Cooney, 2011) and interpretive rigour (Charmaz(2010).
A central concept emerged from the data and encompassed the main concepts found in the results. In this presentation, the author discusses one of the study results, Ethics in Teaching (Campbell, 2003; 2003a; Hansen, 1998) that underpins the teaching practice of the participants. This concept includes the personal and professional values of the participants; Moral conflict experienced by the participants; Ethics found in the Traditional and Progressive approach to teaching and its impact on learning and teaching. The author provides exemplars from the data and situates the concept in the literature. Furthermore, this result explicates ethical teaching practices in nursing in detail and its effect on learning and teaching in the clinical arena.
Teaching in the clinical arena in nursing is complex and multilayered. The practice of clinical nurse educators and how they contribute to student learning will also be discussed in this presentation.