Other Titles

Psychiatric education and the nursing student

Abstract

Session presented on Friday, July 25, 2014:

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore mentors` experiences and understanding of factors that may affect student nurses` clinical assessments.

Methods: This study utilised a phenomenographic methodology and was conducted in a mental health Trust in England. 30 mentors, all registered mental health nurses, participated in the study. Data were collected using five focus group interviews of six participants each. Data were analysed thematically using Sjostrom and Dahlgren approach to analysis.

Results: There are multiple factors that may affect clinical assessment of student nurses. Examples of these include anxieties of assessment, student numbers, placement duration, transparency and the nature of learning outcomes. The presence of multiple influential factors makes it practically impossible for mentors to achieve absolute reliability of clinical assessments. Recommendations, such as partnership working with link lecturers and use of protected time were offered to improve the quality of assessments.

Conclusion: Assessment of students' clinical performance is a significant and rewarding responsibility, but challenging as well. Mentors need ongoing training and support to improve the quality of students` assessments.

Author Details

Peter Thomas Sandy, RMN, BSc (Hons), PGCertED, PGDipED, MSc, PhD; Azwihangwisi Mavhandu-Mudzusi, PhD, RN, RM

Sigma Membership

Unknown

Type

Presentation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

N/A

Keywords:

Secure Forensic Settings, Clinical Assessment, Student Nurses

Conference Name

25th International Nursing Research Congress

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Hong Kong

Conference Year

2014

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Share

COinS
 

Factors affecting assessment of student nurses` clinical practice: A phenomenographic exploration of the experiences and understanding of mentors of a mental health service in England

Hong Kong

Session presented on Friday, July 25, 2014:

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore mentors` experiences and understanding of factors that may affect student nurses` clinical assessments.

Methods: This study utilised a phenomenographic methodology and was conducted in a mental health Trust in England. 30 mentors, all registered mental health nurses, participated in the study. Data were collected using five focus group interviews of six participants each. Data were analysed thematically using Sjostrom and Dahlgren approach to analysis.

Results: There are multiple factors that may affect clinical assessment of student nurses. Examples of these include anxieties of assessment, student numbers, placement duration, transparency and the nature of learning outcomes. The presence of multiple influential factors makes it practically impossible for mentors to achieve absolute reliability of clinical assessments. Recommendations, such as partnership working with link lecturers and use of protected time were offered to improve the quality of assessments.

Conclusion: Assessment of students' clinical performance is a significant and rewarding responsibility, but challenging as well. Mentors need ongoing training and support to improve the quality of students` assessments.