Challenges of Preparing Nursing Students for Practice: The Faculty Perspective

• Published in: The Journal of nursing education Vol. 60; no. 4; pp. 225 - 228
• Main Authors: Patterson, Judith A., Chrisman, Matthew, Skarbek, Anita, Martin-Stricklin, Suzanne, Patel, Sarah E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thorofare Slack, Inc 01.04.2021; SLACK INCORPORATED
• Subjects: Clinical medicine; Course Content; Critical thinking; Curricula; Data Analysis; Experiential Learning; Health care policy; Information management; Interviews; Laboratories; Learner Engagement; Learning; Medicine; Nursing; Nursing education; Nursing skills; Nursing Students; Patient safety; Practice; Professional practice; Psychological aspects; Student Needs; Student participation; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Thinking Skills; Training; United States
• ISSN: 0148-4834; 1938-2421
• DOI: 10.3928/01484834-20210322-08

Background: A significant challenge facing nursing is new graduate RNs' unreadiness for practice. To better understand the issue, this study presents the challenges nursing faculty encounter in preparing nursing students for clinical practice through semi-structured interviews. Method: Eight faculty from a private midwestern university's prelicensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program participated in the study. A modified version of Colaizzi's data analysis method was used to interpret the data. Results: Three main interrelated themes were identified: Facilitating Learning Among Today's Nursing Students, Teaching in an Era of Information Explosion and Health Care Reform, and Providing High-Quality Clinical Education. Conclusion: Findings from this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges in preparing competent future nurses and offer insight into factors influencing the underpreparation of some new graduate BSN RNs. [J Nurs Educ. 2021;60(4):225–228.]