CLINICAL PLACEMENTS

Clinical Placements



Clinical Placements

Introduction

Clinical laboratories are commonly used to teach nursing students to develop clinical nursing skills; there is a lack of research linking the use and effectiveness of clinical laboratory sessions to clinical practice; and students' perceptions of the link between skills taught at university and those used in clinical practice are important in ensuring that students are adequately prepared for clinical placements and that consistency exists to ensure safe practice. Clinical placement is an essential element of undergraduate nursing programs. Clinical laboratories are a commonly used teaching strategy to assist students to develop clinical nursing skills prior to attending compulsory clinical placements. When students embark on their first clinical placements, they may experience dissonance between the academic ideal of expected nursing practice and the reality of the clinical setting1. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness for student learning, and the linking of clinical practice with laboratory classes, at a small rural campus in a regional area of the state of New South Wales, Australia, and also whether the laboratory classes actually play a part in linking theory to practice. What is known about nursing student learning in clinical laboratory sessions and their experience during clinical placements can be classified into three main areas.

Increasingly, a nurse's role is moving past secondary prevention and towards primary prevention and health promotion. While the importance of prevention of illness cannot be minimized, the initiative to approach wellness holistically is growing. The United States Government is taking steps to help the American public move away from lifestyles solely motivated by health protecting behaviors. Their goal is outlined in the Healthy People 2010 initiative as “developing and implementing policies and preventive interventions that effectively address [individual behaviors and environmental factors to] reduce the burden of illness, enhance quality of life, and increase longevity” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000).

According to Pender, Murdaugh, and Parsons, health protecting behaviors are those behaviors that one engages in to “actively avoid illness, detect it early, or maintain functioning within the constraints of illness” (2006, p. 7). These behaviors of health protection are commonly referred to as disease prevention. An example of a health protecting behavior is a woman getting a routine mammogram, or a parent making sure their child's immunizations are up-to-date.

Health promotion goes beyond mere prevention, involving the “desire to increase well-being and actualize human health potential” (Pender, Murdaugh, & Parsons, 2006, p. 7). It is not just the desire to stay free from illness, but an awareness that a human has the potential to grow physically, mentally and spiritually throughout their life that motivates health promoting behavior. “The overall goal of health promotion is the balanced enhancement of physical, mental, and social positive health, coupled with the prevention of physical, mental, and social ill-health” (Downie, Tannahill, & Tannahill, 1997). It is the nurse's charge to help individuals and groups create a climate conducive to change, help with the steps involved with that change, and to facilitate the maintenance of the change in ...