As a nurse working in the clinical area, I can say that it is a vital component to have clinical exposures in nursing education. Apart from my MNE experiences as well as previous experience as the buddy nurse of the nursing students on their RLE duty, the clinical area allows the students to apply their gained knowledge and skills in the classroom and laboratory to actual patients and real-life nursing situations. These exposures make room for enhancement and development of the students' critical thinking, decision-making and problem-solving abilities which helps build their confidence and competency as a beginning nurse. It is also in the clinical area where the students are able to interact and observe actual professional interactions with the patients, significant others, and other members of the healthcare team to help foster communication and collaboration. With the clinical area exposure, the students are able to have an insight to the actual dynamics of the clinical setting including the pressures and fast-paced hospital work.
Despite its advantages, there are also advantages to the clinical area as part of nursing education. The students may witness high-pressure situations that may affect the learning performance of the students. There are also variability between what was learned in the classroom and skills laboratory to the actual practice. Limited time in the clinical area may be insufficient to master the skills required. All these disadvantages are part of the responsibilities of the educators on how we would handle and turn it into a learning opportunity for the students.
