The clinical exposures of student nurses are uniquely crafted to provide learners with a holistic approach where theory can be applied. The students are not only exposed in one area, but are rotated in different areas in hospitals.
Deploying them to the hospitals through the Related Learning Experience is necessary so they will have actual hands-on experience that is unpredictable and uncontrolled. This gives them more autonomy to think and act based on what they learn in classroom or simulations. Exposing them to different areas during their clinical hours, allows our students to improve their critical thinking and decision-making. They will also have first-hand experience on how members of the healthcare team collaborate to provide patient care. Another reason why clinical exposure is important is because students are exposed to clientele from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds which makes them more adaptable or flexible to the needs of others in providing care. The experience will give them an opportunity to appreciate the true meaning of care and compassion and the value of therapeutic communication with every patient interaction.
However, with these deployments also comes high risk to the part of the student, Clinical Instructor, Nurse-on-Duty, or sometimes to the hospital. Since students are exposed to uncontrolled and unpredictable environments, anything can happen at any time. This would require constant and careful supervision from the Clinical Instructors. Another factor that could contribute to the disadvantage of deploying students in the clinical area is based on the specialization and experience of Clinical Instructors. For example, if an Instructor has limited experience at an area of assignment, or comes from a different hospital and not very familiar with the hospital policies and processes she/he is assigned to with the students, a problem arises. I believe that a Clinical Instructor’s experiences and confidence play a huge role in the ability of the students to learn skills and tasks. As their role models in the clinical areas, students look up to them (us) and expect a lot of our guidance, especially in the technical aspects of assessments, and performing procedures in the hospital. Experienced Clinical Instructors show confidence and competence which can bridge the gap between theories and the application of skills and, thus, will emulate to the students.
