Academic nurse educators’ experiences and perceptions of supporting adult nursing students in clinical placements in nursing homes: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

BACKGROUND: The global population is ageing and requires the provision of skilled registered nurses to meet their needs. However, concerns exist that students do not view nursing homes favourably compared to hospital placements. The role of the nurse educator is an important one in reinforcing the importance of care that takes place in a nursing home AIM: This thesis aims to explore nurse educators’ experiences and perceptions of supporting adult nursing students in nursing home placements. METHODS: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was undertaken to develop divergent and convergent experiences of nurse educators supporting clinical placements in nursing homes. Semi-structured interviews with eight nurse educators were conducted online between December 2020 and March 2021 and transcribed verbatim. Smith et al's, (2022) six-step iterative process was followed alongside researcher reflexivity, to extract divergent and convergent superordinate and subordinate themes. FINDINGS: The cross-group analysis elicited individual and shared experiences. Two superordinate themes and six subthemes emerged from the data. Participants highlighted how a curriculum focussed on hospital-based care can result in minority placement settings such as nursing homes becoming overlooked in nurse education. Nurse educators in this study suggest that student, faculty and nursing home nurses’ negative perceptions of the value of nursing home clinical placements make it more challenging to build trusting relationships and support nursing home staff to recognise the potential of their role and contribution to nurse education. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that nurse education is unwittingly contributing to a negative perception of nursing home placements that points towards an epistemic injustice towards nursing homes, the registered nurses who work in them and the skills gained and practised within them. This leaves students unprepared and unwilling to work in nursing homes and nursing home staff unable to feel confident in their part in supporting nursing students. There is an urgent need for nurse education to become more inclusive of clinical practice in nursing homes so that the differences can be properly understood and actions for change taken. The implementation of Care Home Education Facilitators (CHEF) would be a first step to achieving this goal. Additionally, nurse educators are challenged to ensure the nursing curriculum actively recognises stereotypical beliefs, increases the value of fundamental care throughout the nurse education programme and supports student nurses undertaking clinical placements in nursing homes.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Author dc:creator

• Cooke, Julie

Contributors dc:contributor

• Schutz, Sue
• Greenway, Kathleen
• Aveyard, Helen

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/hrrf-4578

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:4bd8c9d3-be0b-4c32-8500-eb37026637c8:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1