The Journal of Medical Education and Development

Objectives : Clinical education is a dynamic process which plays an important role in training professional nurses. The role of ideal clinical education is undeniable in personal and professional development and clinical expertise of nurses. Nevertheless, students encounter some problems in clinical education. Undoubtedly, awareness of these problems is the first step in reducing them. One of the best and almost reliable sources of assessing such problems are the students themselves. The present study was caried out to assess the clinical education problems from the viewpoints of nursing students studying at their third or fourth year of education at Qom School of Nursing and Midwifery in 2008.

Method : The study was a descriptive one in which 53 junior and senior students of nursing participated to answer some clinical education problems of nursing through a self-made questionnaire consisting of 5 domains and 31 questions.

Results : The most important problems of clinical education from students' viewpoints included: sufficient clinical practice history among trainers (34%), giving information to the students about their evaluation method before clinical training (26.4%), and reinforcing students' self-confidence at clinical environment (24.5%). Low-importance items were: coordination between educational objectives and Personnel Expectations (50.9%), Welfare Facilities (47.2%), use of educational aids at clinical setting, and enough motivation for Employment at nursing (45.3%).

Conclusion : On the basis of the findings of the study, it seems possible to decrease some of the most important problems of nursing students through determining goals and coordinating between educational goals and staff's expectations and preparing welfare and educational equipment for clinical wards.