Perception of Actual and Preferred Hospital Clinical Learning Environment among Undergraduate Nursing Students in Achievers University, Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Nursing students are expected to gain knowledge through supervised clinical practice, therefore even with all of the changes that have occurred, clinical learning environments (CLEs) are still crucial to nursing education. Aim: This study aims to assess the perception of actual and preferred hospital clinical learning environment among undergraduate nursing students in Achievers University, Owo, Ondo state. Methodology: A descriptive design was adopted for the study conducted among 146 Achievers nursing students were selected to participate in this study. Respondents were selected from nursing students in year 3, 4 and 5. A pretest method was used to test the internal consistency among students of University of Medical Sciences, Ondo state. Cronbach Alpha score of 0.69 was derived. Results: This study revealed that the actual perception towards the clinical learning environment shows that 74.7% perceive it to be bad. 91.8% of the respondents had good perception towards a preferred clinical learning environment. The Actual and preferred perception mean and standard deviation as 42.05±5.28 and 51.65±4.54 respectively. Effective and supportive clinical preceptors (69.9%), quality of clinical instructions received (67.1%), lack of clinical supervision and effective feedback and evaluation of students (56.2%) are major factors that influences undergraduate nursing students’ opinions of their hospital clinical learning environment. There is a significant difference between the perception of the actual and preferred hospital clinical learning environment of undergraduate nursing students in Achievers University, Ondo state. It is thus advised that clinical experiences be assessed in order to spot any possible areas where nursing students' learning transfer may be hampered.