Nursing Students Perception of and Satisfaction with their Clinical Learning Environment in the Gambia

• Main Authors: Dodou Sanyang, 桑杜
• Other Authors: HSIEH, CHIA-JUNG
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94580674109487043810

碩士 === 國立臺北護理健康大學 === 護理研究所 === 105 === Background: The recognized problem of shortage of nurses in The Gambia leads the government to direct nurse training institutions to increase enrollment. As enrollment of student to various nursing programs increased, the demand for quality clinical placements increased. Clinical placement moved from the traditional hospital setting to include major and minor health centers. Little is known about the impact this has on the nursing students. The purpose of this study was to explore nursing students’ perception of and satisfaction with their clinical learning environment in the Gambia Methods: a descriptive correlational study with a sample population of 270 (90% response rate) nursing students was recruited from four public nurse training institutions in The Gambia. Convenient sampling was used to recruit participants for the study. The Clinical Learning Environment Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES+T) 5 point Likert scale was used to collect data. SPSS version 20 for windows was used for data analysis. Results: Overall, nursing students perception score of the CLE was (3.56 ± 0.78) and satisfaction (3.56±1.12). Leadership style of the ward manager was the sub-dimension with the highest perception score (4.00±0.89). Supervisory relationship has the lowest mean score (3.33±1.16) ANOVA results showed that supervision and practicum factors were the most influential factors in nursing students perception of and satisfaction with their CLE (p<0.001). Statistically significant correlations exist between nursing students perception and satisfaction (r=0.738).The combination of type of nursing program, type and frequency of supervision, duration of practicum and number of clinical placements all significantly predicted nursing students perception of their CLE (F=19.201, p<.001). Practicum duration lasting for 8 weeks or more contributed most to the predictors of nursing students’ perception in the CLE (p<0.001). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study on nursing students’ perception of and satisfaction with the clinical learning environment to be conducted in The Gambia (West Africa) using the CLES+T scales. This study provides an insight of how nursing students in public nurse training institutions in the Gambia perceive as well as show their satisfaction with their CLE. Findings suggest that demographic, supervision and practicum factors are all predictors of nursing students’ perception in the clinical learning environment in The Gambia.