Abstract:
Clinical instructors have an important role in education and in the development of nursing students. Exploration of effective characteristics of clinical instructors provides insight into improvement of educational programs for developing nurses. The purpose of this descriptive study is to explore the perceptions of characteristics of clinical instructors which are most beneficial to student learning outcomes. This is a replication of Gignac-Caille and Oermann’s (2001) study, which utilized a descriptive approach to determine perceived importance of characteristics of clinical instructors. A convenience sample of 200 nursing students in various levels of their ADN programs and 50 faculty members from the same programs will be recruited from three Midwestern college Schools of Nursing. Knox & Mogan’s (1985) Nursing Clinical Effectiveness Inventory will be utilized to measure perceived importance of previously determined characteristics of clinical instructors. Findings about characteristics of those in instructional roles will be of value in devising a valid and reliable evaluation tool to assess the effectiveness of clinical teachers.
