What do nursing students contribute to clinical practice sites? The perceptions of practicing nurses

Purpose:
The study goal was to learn about aspects of working with nursing students that cause satisfaction and dissatisfaction for staff RNs. The knowledge will allow administrators to accentuate satisfiers and abate dis-satisfiers to enhance the relationships between academia and clinical practice sites.

Background/Significance:
Relationships between staff RNs and nursing students have implications for the quality of students' academic experiences and for practice environments. Considering two roles staff RNs have when working with students in practice settings, role-model nurse during clinical rotations and preceptor during preceptorships, the aims were to illuminate how staff RNs in different clinical practice areas perceive students' contributions and to determine if preceptors' and role-models' perceptions differed.

Methods:
RNs working at six different acute care hospitals that are part of two regional health systems were sent a single invitation to participate in an anonymous 54-item on-line survey designed to assess factors that influence nurses' perceptions of nursing students. There were 391 participants who responded. One-way ANOVAs and t-tests assessed for variance of perceptions about students' contributions between the RNs with roles as preceptors or role-models, their years of experience, their educational levels, and their clinical practice areas. Two-way ANOVAs with least waited means checked for interaction effects between the RNs' roles, years of experience, educational levels, and clinical areas.

Results:
The mean age of the respondents was 48 years and they averaged 19 years of experience. The respondents had generally positive views of students' contributions. There were significant differences in the ratings of student's contributions by the RNs' in different roles, areas of practice, and years of experience. Nurses with preceptor roles had higher perceptions and peri-natal nurses reported the lowest perceptions. The individual item responses indicated the respondents believed that working with students enhances professional role development; makes staff feel secure about their knowledge; students appreciate the support of RNs; and nursing students contribute to patient care.

Conclusions and Implications for Practice:
Understanding relationships between the RN workforce and nursing students may lead to retaining more staff RNs. Nursing students have positive effects on work environments. Nursing leaders can emphasize professional development for RNs to improve relations between schools and practice institutions.