Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2017 Aug 8;17(1):130.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-0966-4.

Student preparedness characteristics important for clinical learning: perspectives of supervisors from medicine, pharmacy and nursing

Hasini Banneheke  1 , Vishna Devi Nadarajah  2 , Srinivasan Ramamurthy  3 , Afshan Sumera  4 , Sneha Ravindranath  5 , Kamalan Jeevaratnam  6 , Benny Efendie  7 , Leela Chellamuthu  8 , Purushotham Krishnappa  4 , Ray Peterson  9
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Student preparedness characteristics important for clinical learning: perspectives of supervisors from medicine, pharmacy and nursing

Hasini Banneheke et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Student perspectives of clinical preparedness have been studied in the literature, but the viewpoint of supervisors is limited. Hence, the aim was to examine the perspective of supervisors on the characteristics of health professional students important for preparedness for clinical learning.

Methods: This was a descriptive, questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study conducted at three higher education institutions in Malaysia. A previously published questionnaire with 62 characteristics was adopted with modifications after pre-testing. Descriptive analysis was completed for the demographic data. The sample was grouped based on health profession, clinical practice experience and teaching experience for further analysis. Non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test was selected to evaluate differences in mean ranks to assess the null hypothesis that the medians are equal across the groups. Kruskal-Wallis post-hoc pair wise comparison was performed on samples with significant differences across samples.

Results: The sample was comprised of 173 supervisors from medicine (55, 32%), pharmacy (84, 48%) and nursing (34, 20%). The majority (63%) of the supervisors were currently in professional practice. A high percentage (40%) of supervisors had less than 4 years of teaching experience. The highest theme ratings were for willingness (6.00) and professionalism (5.90). There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the medians, among medicine, pharmacy and nursing professional speciality for willingness (5.70, 6.00 and 6.00), professionalism (5.70, 5.90 and 6.15), communication and interaction (5.42, 5.67 and 6.00), personal attributes (5.42, 5.71 and 6.02) and the professional and interpersonal skills (5.50, 5.63 and 6.00) themes. Post-hoc analysis showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) between medicine and nursing groups in the willingness (5.70 and 6.00), professionalism (5.70 and 6.15) and personal attributes (5.42 and 6.02) themes. Supervisors who are currently in practice had given high ratings compared to other groups. There were no significant differences observed within groups with different level of teaching experiences.

Conclusions: All supervisors rated professionalism and willingness as the most important characteristics followed by personal attributes. Further strengthening learning opportunities related to these characteristics in the curriculum may improve the students' preparedness in clinical learning.

Keywords: Clinical learning; Clinical preparedness; Supervisor’s perspective.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Authors’ information

HB: MBBS, PgDip MedMicro, MD, Senior lecturer/ specialist in Medical Parasitology; VDN: B.Sc (Hons), MHPE, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry/Dean- Learning and Teaching; SR: BPharm, MPharm, PhD, MRSC, Senior Lecturer; AS: MBBS, DTCD, MPhil, PhD Scholar/lecturer in pathology; SRD: BDS, MDS Orthodontics, FRACDS, Senior lecturer/ Orthodontist; KJ: DAHP, DVM, MMedSc, PhD, MRCVS,Senior lecturer/ Hon. Research Associate; BE: BPharm, MClinPharm, Grad Cert Higher Edu, RPh, Lecturer in pharmacy practice / clinical pharmacy; LC: MSC.Nsg Sc.Bsc. Nsg. Admin.Lecturer in Nsg.,Senior Lecturer; PK: MBBS, MD, Senior Lecturer /Head of Pathology Division; RP B.Sc(Hons), MAppSc(ScEd), PhD, DipEd, Grad DipScEd, Associate Professor/Medical Education

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study protocol was approved by the International Medical University Joint Committee on Research and Ethics [IMU 280/2013 (staff)], the Perdana University Institutional Review Board, and Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee. The study objectives and details of the project were explained to participants using consent forms and their participation in the study was voluntary. Consent was obtained from participants before data collection.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

    1. Knecht-Sabres LJ, Kovic M, Wallingford M. St.Amand LE. Preparing Occupational Therapy Students for the Complexities of Clinical Practice. The Open J Occup Ther. 2013;1(3):4. doi: 10.15453/2168-6408.1047. - DOI
    1. Kaneko S, Momino K. Stress factors and coping behaviors in nursing students during fundamental clinical training in japan. Int J Nurs Clin Pract. 2015;2:138. doi: 10.15344/2394-4978/2015/138. - DOI
    1. Alexander DA, Haldane JD. Medical education: a student perspective. Med Educ. 1979;13(5):336–341. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1979.tb01523.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pitkala KH, Mantyranta T. Professional socialization revised: medical students' own conceptions related to adoption of the future physician's role--a qualitative study. Med Teach. 2003;25(2):155–160. doi: 10.1080/0142159031000092544. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Elliott M. The clinical environment: a source of stress for undergraduate nurses. Aust J Adv Nurs. 2002;20(1):34–38. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources