Clinical Placement : transforming students into nurses
The nursing profession boasts many great visionaries, thinkers, leaders, researchers, teachers and clinicians. From the earliest days of our training, we have all encountered our own embodiments of such exemplars and role models, being empowered and inspired by them. Yet even these experts and icons were once beginners.
The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) has commenced an excellent initiative in the Emerging Nurse Leaders program where the virtues of mentorship and individualized learning are shared in a manner which is intimate and interactive.
As I consider the talent that the ACN is fostering, I am tempted to reflect on the education journey that these individuals are experiencing and to decipher at what point “the student” became “the nurse”.
Peter Drucker stated : “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” 1
The slightly older nurses will recall (mostly with fondness) the days of our “apprenticeship”. Learning the ropes from our seniors, often burdened with the seemingly mundane but always involved in “seeing” and “doing” something. We may not have always understood the “why” of things but we quickly came to grips with the “how” of delivering the tasks that were required.
We also had regular and consistent contact with that species called “the patient”. The interactions we shared with them as junior nurses was our awakening to the emotional and spiritual intelligence that underpins an effective relationship between care giver and recipient. This often became the nexus where we could learn so much more about ourselves, especially when those in our charge were confronted with adversity and even their own mortality.
Present day undergraduate nurses are presented with incredible information. The body of knowledge laid before them is astounding in its depth, diversity and complexity. Likewise the teaching methods now available reflect the many benefits of academic rigor, technological advance and the accumulation of educational theory and evidence.
There are opinion leaders who have in recent years expressed doubts about the adequacy of contemporary curricula to prepare nurses for the clinical environment. 2 There is no disagreement that lectures, tutorials, self-directed learning with on-line materials, group workshops, role play, computer simulation, clinical skills laboratories incorporating mannequins and reflective journaling, all have their place and value in a training milieu.
However, it has been demonstrated that nurses are largely “kinaesthetic” in their learning – “doers.” 3 Confucius once said : “I hear and I forget. I see and I believe. I do and I understand.” 1 Hands on engagement involving all of the senses (well maybe not taste) is incredibly impactful. Toddlers do this so well. It is a shame that we unlearn this skill.
Clinical placements are an essential portal through which students can observe, interact, be challenged and even confronted, and be stimulated by the “real” world, being forced to apply their knowledge base and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their understanding and perception.
Diarizing the before, during and after of a clinical interaction is a potent act of revelation. Guided reflection through such an event is a masterful deed, being the remit of a seasoned tutor, facilitator or clinical educator. Here the broadsheet of scientific data is molded and tempered through its application to an actual patient’s health, emotional, fiscal and social realities.
A superb clinical placement is the vehicle through which a student emerges to the nuances of what it actually means to be a “nurse.”
References :
2. Redmond,C; Davies,C; Cornally,D; Fegan,M; O’Toole,M Teaching and learning in the Biosciences: the development of an educational programme to assist student nurses in their assessment and management of patients with wounds. Journal of Clinical Nursing 2015:25;2706-2712.
3. Fleming,N Teaching and learning styles: VARK strategies.
N.D. Fleming, Christchurch, New Zealand 2001
Author :
Gary Bain RN MClinEd BN DipApSc MACN
Nurse Educator & Clinical Consultant
The Wound Guy
www.thewoundguy.com.au
Printed in the Australian College of Nursing's The Hive Summer #16 2016/2017