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Background: Graduating nursing students report lower competence in leadership and delegation skills, which may be due to lack of sufficient opportunities to practice leadership skills such as delegation and supervision. A near-peer clinical supervision model, in which third-year students supervise first-year students on placement, may provide a mechanism to develop graduating students' leadership skills while improving the learning experience for junior students., Objectives: To evaluate nursing students' experiences and perceptions of participating in a near-peer clinical supervision model., Design: A mixed methods design including an anonymous post-placement survey of students, and a group interview., Settings: Medical and surgical wards in three Australian hospitals., Method: Forty-three first-year nursing students were supervised by 92 third-year nursing students on clinical placement under the supervision of a registered nurse in a near-peer supervision model., Results: Twenty-seven first-year (69.2%) and 43 third-year (46.7%) students completed the questionnaire. First-years reported that being supervised by a senior student was a positive experience and would recommend it to other students (4.49/5 ± 0.71), and indicated that third-year students behaved professionally, were knowledgeable, and provided opportunities to ask questions (4.52-4.81/5). Third-year students reported gaining confidence, teaching, delegation and leadership skills (4.21-4.49/5). Qualitative responses supported the quantitative findings. Additional findings were the need for greater preparation of ward registered nurses to work in the model., Conclusions: Both groups enjoyed working in a near-peer clinical supervision model. The model provided opportunities for senior students to develop leadership and delegation skills and a positive experience of placement for junior students. Further attention to preparation of ward registered nurses would improve model delivery., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Internationalisation of higher education has contributed to the increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse students in higher education programs worldwide. While there is some literature on the experiences and needs of these students, there is little evidence on what resources can be used to support these students when learning in the clinical setting., Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of an existing handbook developed for clinical facilitators to enhance culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students' learning, and to explore the facilitator and student perceptions of their clinical placement support needs., Design: This exploratory qualitative study, involving culturally and linguistically diverse Bachelor of Nursing students and clinical educators, was conducted in a multi-campus School of Nursing and Midwifery at Griffith University, Australia, in collaboration with health services. Focus groups and individual interviews with clinical facilitators and culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students were conducted. Activity theory provided the conceptual framework for this study and the qualitative data analysis was informed by grounded theory., Results: Clinical facilitator focus groups and interviews generated three themes: understanding culturally and linguistically diverse students' needs; supporting culturally and linguistically diverse students; and improving learning resources for facilitators and students. Student focus groups generated three themes: wanting to be more prepared for clinical placement; feeling supported by facilitators and interacting with others in a different context; and creating resources to support learning., Conclusions: Supportive clinical environments are key to the work-integrated learning success of culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students. The findings of this qualitative research study, involving clinical educators and culturally and linguistically diverse Bachelor of Nursing students identify the pressing need to develop readily accessible resources to support the clinical learning of culturally and linguistically diverse students and their educators. Resources development should be attentive to complexities at the intersection of workplace culture and students' developing understanding., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: To mitigate escalating costs in clinical supervision of undergraduate nursing students and alleviate clinical facilitators' teaching burden, the near-peer learning model has become popular. Studies on near-peer learning have been on students' views of the model with a paucity of literature on clinical facilitators' experiences., Aim: To explore clinical facilitator experiences of the near-peer learning model., Design: A qualitative descriptive design was used with a purposeful sample of clinical facilitators involved in near-peer learning of nursing students., Setting: Two teaching hospitals participated. Two medical and two surgical wards were selected from each., Participants: Eleven clinical facilitators who had experienced using near-peer learning., Methods: Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with clinical facilitators using a semi-structured interview guide following ethics approval. Data were analysed using content analysis., Results: Four themes emerged: 1) Congruent student dyad characteristics 2) Clinical facilitator attributes of confidence in students' knowledge and effective time and conflict management, 3) Availability of suitable skills, and 4) Facilitator support and preparation on the model. These themes appear to promote optimum learning outcomes of the near-peer model including empowering students, junior students gaining practice in foundation skills and senior students gaining competence in leadership, mentoring and nurturing skills. Barriers included incongruent student characteristics resulting in conflict and trust issues, senior student not knowing how to teach, give feedback or teaching inaccurate information; facilitator's lack of confidence in students' knowledge level, inadequate time to manage the student dyad and resolve conflict; inadequate support and preparation from university staff; and unavailability of suitable skills., Conclusion: Successful implementation requires careful selection of student dyads, appropriate clinical environment and support for clinical facilitators. Our findings provide a better understanding of the near-peer model for future implementation., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Increasing demands for clinical placements have forced tertiary institutions to look for alternative placements for third year nursing students. While Prison Health Services provide an opportunity for nursing students to engage in care of offender populations with significant chronic illnesses, there has been little evaluation of such placements. Third year undergraduate nurses (18/46) participated in a mixed methods study to provide evidence-based research on students' perceptions of clinical placements in Prison Health Services. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via an anonymous survey and individual interview. Whilst the majority of students valued the opportunity to increase their knowledge and clinical skills and felt supported by preceptors, challenges included being psychologically ill-prepared for the physical and emotional aspects of placement, and witnessing poor attitudes and behaviours of staff, which impacted on the quality of their experience. Recommendations include changes to orientation programs and introduction of simulation to help students feel better prepared and supported during placements in prison settings. Refining the selection process for placements in this setting will also help to ensure student suitability for clinical placement in Prison Health Services., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Accurate calculation of dosages and safe administration of medications in clinical practice is an essential skill for the registered nurse. Appropriate educational preparation of student nurses is the key to ensuring they become safe practitioners in the workforce. A review of the literature on different approaches for teaching and assessing medication calculation with student nurses revealed three main factors that influenced student nurses' ability to calculate medications accurately and identify mistakes. These factors include mathematical ability, particularly around multiplying with decimals, understanding medication formulas, and conceptualising medication dose., Objectives: This study evaluated teaching interventions that focused on improving the students' understanding of mathematical calculations, medication formulas and conceptualising medication doses., Design: Evaluation study with teaching interventions and Time 1 and Time 2 medication tests., Participants: 156, 2nd year Bachelor of Nursing students from an Australian University., Method: The teaching interventions over 8 weeks included teaching decimals and basic mathematical skills, using the correct mathematical formula for the medication and linking the medication to the patient case study. Time 1 and Time 2 medication tests out of ten, student demographics and reasons for attending tutorials were collected to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching interventions., Results: For Time 1 medication test pre interventions, the mean was 7.3 with a mode of 8 out of ten. Maths and incorrect medication formula were the most common mistake. For Time 2 medication test post interventions, the mean was 9.3 with a mode of 10. The most common reason for incorrect answer Time 2 was incorrect medication formula. The students identified that the smaller tutorial sizes and remediation of errors was the main reason for continued attendance., Conclusions: The teaching intervention improved the accuracy of students' medication calculation, specifically, understanding the correct formula to use and identifying errors of calculation., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Student nurses in Australia are regularly placed in acute clinical areas providing them with clinical experience to link theory with real patient situations. Specialist clinical areas such as day oncology and renal dialysis often exclude students on the basis that their clinical area may not be able to meet normal clinical expectations, including holistic care of four to six patients with minimal direction from the registered nurse. However, specialist clinical areas provide students with unique learning experiences. This paper reports on an evaluation of speciality clinical placements for student nurses with an aim to increase our understanding of this type of placement., Methods: Semi-structured audiotaped interviews were undertaken with 7 third year final semester students and 13 registered nurses working with the third year students. All interviews were transcribed and a thematic analysis conducted., Findings: Key themes from the students and registered nurses were knowledge and preparedness for specialist placement, team work and being included and customising learning needs., Conclusion: Speciality placements provide a valuable experience for the undergraduate nurse including opportunities to see excellence in team work, communication and assessment as well as identifying future intention to become an oncology or renal specialist nurse.