5. Nursing students’ perceptions of tutorial strategies during clinical learning instruction (a descriptive study on Italian nursing students’ perception of tutorial strategies during clinical learning) (373)

Anna Brugnolli, Director of Studies of the Superior School of Health Education, Nursing, Nursing Faculty - Verona, Verona, Italy
Co authors: Luisa Saiani & Debora Viviani
anna.brugnolli@apss.tn.it

Abstract:

Background:

In literature the elements that facilitate learning are: responsibility, practising activities, receiving feedback and supervision (Lee et al. 2002; O’Sullivan et al. 2003; Tang et. al. 2005). Italian students mostly have nine 4 to 6-week blocks of work experience with different tutors at the hospital or in the community.

Aims:

The aim of this study is to describe the effectiveness of learning strategies as perceived by the students, focusing on the function, amount and level of supervision and guidance and the complexity of some of the tasks.

Methods:

A questionnaire was compiled by a suitable sample of 308 Italian third-year nursing degree-course students at the universities of Verona and Trento, using the Likert Scale of 5 values and organised into 4 sections (α Cronbach 0.86, 0.92, 0.89 and 0.76): perception of the usefulness of each skill taught, the effectiveness of teaching strategies, the level of supervision and the perceived complexity of each skill or procedure.

Results:

The major part of all the predicted teaching strategies were perceived as moderately to highly useful. The students perceived a medium to high level of professionalism in their supervision. The tasks which apparently needed the closest supervision were the management of treatment/therapy (M 3.8 ±1.03) and performing nursing techniques (M 3.7 ± 0.955); the abilities considered to be the most complex were confronting an emergency situation (M 3.8 ± 1.03) and planning the nursing care for a group of patients (M 3.3 ± .941), these received the lowest place in classification of supervision.

Discussion:

A tutorship model emerged that was centred on learning by experience with participation and guidance. The students appreciated the variety of clinical teaching methods and liked trying things for themselves. They recognized and rated highly the educational value of more active strategies, working things out for themselves and having time for reflection but they did not like writing about their experiences during practical training sessions.

Biography:

Anna Brugnolli was tutor clinical from 1988 to 2001 Director of Studies of the Superior School of Health Education for the Independent Province of Trent from 2001 Oct 2001. From 2001, she was Co-ordinator for the University Nursing School of the University of Verona – Trent Branch. At present she is Scientific Co-ordinator for the Master in Geriatric Nursing She is part of the teams for the journal AIR (Assistenza Infermieristica e Ricerca) Saiani L Palese A Brugnolli A., Benaglio C La pianificazione delle dimissioni ospedaliere e il contributo degli infermieri Assistenza Infermieristica e Ricerca 2004 23(4): 233-249 Palese A., Brugnolli A., Saiani L. et al., L'efficacia delle strategie tutoriali nell'apprendimento del ragionamento clinico degli studenti infermieri: studio quasi sperimentale, Atti di "Congresso Nazionale SIPeM", Messina, 19-21 novembre., 2005 A. Brugnolli, Dalponte A., Tovazzi C., et al. Dotazione di personale e qualità delle cure Assistenza Infermieristica e Ricerca 2006; 25(1): 51-55 Saiani L., Brugnolli A. Gli obiettivi ed i contenuti core di management infermieristico nei percorsi formativi di base e post base Assistenza Infermieristica e Ricerca 2006; 25(2):74-85 Brugnolli A. La valutazione del dolore negli anziani con declino cognitivo Assistenza Infermieristica e Ricerca 2007;16 (1):38-45.