The Perception of Staff Nurses on the Clinical Experience of the BSN Student Before and After the Implementation of a Dedicated Education Unit

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the views of staff nurses on BSN student nurse experiences before and after the implementation of a Dedicated Education Unit (DEU). There is limited literature on the perceptions of nursing staff on the student learning experience and outcomes of several studies present differing results.

 Methods: Using a case study design, data was obtained through focus groups which assisted in developing an in-depth understanding of the views of the acute care nurse. Guiding this study was the theoretical framework of Albert Bandura, which is a social cognitive theory that combines behaviorist and cognitive elements. The assumptions of this behaviorist orientation describe that learning will demonstrate a change in behavior, the environment shapes behavior, and the learned behavior needs to be reinforced.

 Results: Results demonstrated that there are differences in the perceptions of staff nurses on student clinical experiences between the traditional models of instructor led experiences and dedicated education units. Demonstrated skills, student participation, a decrease in student anxiety and confidence levels were all perceived to be improved after the implementation of the dedicated education unit.

 Conclusion: The potential benefits of the study are to open the lines of communication between service and academia which may lead to the development of a more in-depth clinical experience for the student nurse, while at the same time enable the experienced staff nurse to be more interactive in the learning environment. Based on the findings of this research the implications for possible future direction could be the development of additional DEU’s which would further enhance the student nurse experience.