Kristina Mikkonen

Nursing students’ experiences of the empathy of their teachers: a qualitative study

The purpose of this study was to describe nursing students’ experiences of empathy of nursing teachers with the emphasis on how experiencing empathy from their teachers influences students, their learning and professional development. This research was a qualitative descriptive study conducted through face-to-face interviews with nursing students. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results indicate that the teachers’ empathy towards students and their learning either produces a constructive learning experience and a caring learning environment or obstructs their learning and has negative consequences for a student’s quality of life. Empathy from teachers towards the students when becoming a nurse facilitates professional education and offers potential strength-based learning; on the other hand, it can hinder the learning of correct principles of nursing care and challenges students stay true to their personal principles. The results indicate that empathy has a positive impact on students’ professional development in nursing and their learning environment. Teachers should be strongly encouraged to place a greater emphasis on the principle of empathy and caring in nursing, which would involve having good communication with students.

The competence of nurse mentors in mentoring students in clinical practice – A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Nurses play an important role in developing the competence of nursing students and acting as role models for students during clinical practice placements. Nurses need diverse competence to successfully mentor nursing student. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to describe and explain nurse mentor competence in mentoring nursing students in clinical practice settings based on self-evaluation, as well as identify different mentor profiles. DESIGN This study employed a cross-sectional, descriptive design involving a self-administered electronic version of the Mentor Competence Instrument. SETTINGS The study population included nurse mentors from all five university hospitals in Finland. PARTICIPANTS Through random sampling, 3355 nurse mentors were invited to take part in the study in 2016. METHODS Data was collected using Mentors Competence Instrument, which consists of 63 items structured in 10 mentoring competence categories. RESULTS Mentors (n = 576) evaluated their level of competence in various categories as middle- to high-level. They evaluated reflection during mentoring and identifying a students need for mentoring the highest, whereas student-centered evaluation and supporting a students learning process were rated lowest. Three distinct profiles of mentor competence were identified. These profiles differed in evaluation of mentoring competence level, previous participation in mentoring education, and time spent on reflective discussions with students. CONCLUSIONS According to their profiles, mentors have diverse needs for support in building their mentoring competence. We suggest that healthcare organizations should provide nursing mentors with education that is based on their individual levels of mentoring competence. Nurses should also be encouraged to use time for reflective discussion with students during clinical practice.

New Ways and Environments for Using the CLES Framework

Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision (CLES) scale has been used and validated in many countries (see Chap. 4). Most commonly, the validation studies have been carried out in a hospital environment and the samples have consisted of general nursing students. An interesting enquiry was raised concerning the validity and implications of the CLES framework in other fields of healthcare services and healthcare student groups including medical students. This chapter presents new ways and environments for implementing the CLES scale, with healthcare students in general, and international nursing students in particular. The examples come from healthcare and medical education. The section dealing with challenges relating to international students’ clinical practicum also introduces a new scale Cultural and Linguistic Diversity scale (CALDs). This scale is developed for international nursing students and can be used together with the CLES+T scale.

International Healthcare Students in Clinical Learning Environments

Internationalism is becoming an increasingly prominent phenomenon in healthcare education. Growing evidence suggests that cultural and linguistic differences influence international students’ learning experiences, particularly in clinical learning environments. We suggest that both students and their mentors should be provided with education in culture and communication to prepare them for professional partnerships in the clinical learning environment. Students also require a well-planned orientation and enough time to adapt to cultural and linguistic differences during their clinical placements. Creating a pedagogical atmosphere which is supportive of cultural differences can enhance students’ success in clinical learning. Fostering intercultural sensitivity towards international students enables reciprocal learning to take place between mentors, clinical facilitators and students. Internationalism offers great opportunities for students to receive a richer education and become better professionals. However, educating international students well requires both careful planning of clinical education within the healthcare curriculum and training of clinical mentors to supervise international students effectively.