Toolkit: preliminary guidelines for successful clinical placement in womens health departments
Tova Kerschen
Bnai Zion Medical Center, Israel
: J Nurs Patient Care
Abstract
Although nursing education has changed through the years, the clinical field will always be an integral and important part of nursing education. Clinical placement essentially is the bridge between theory and practice. It is the environment where the student nurse integrates theory with nursing practice. As nurse educators it is our duty to provide an optimal clinical experience to promote thoughtful learning, critical thinking, intelligent reflection, effective methods of working with staff, with emphasis placed on person-centered care. In this paper, I shall address fundamental topics that form the building blocks of a clinical placement. I shall address the following questions: 1. Do placement always have to be in the clinic? 2. How do we deal with clinical placement of male student nurses in obstetrics and gynaecological units? 3. What is the nature of pre- and post-clinical conferences? 4. How do we apply and integrate the nursing process within the clinical setting? 5. What are the forms of instructor evaluation of students' performance in the clinical setting? Promoting a global-universal method of crucial thinking is of primary importance in todays' world. Multicultural orientation is part of the student nurse's education. In this respect, I shall conclude this paper by sharing selected experiences and challenges related to cultural diversity among students, staff and patients originating from Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultural backgrounds that constitute typical ethnic populations in northern Israel. Hence giving the student nurses a unique opportunity to experience cultural diversity multi-cultural orientation. I would like to share with my colleagues the "necessary tools" that facilitate successful nursing clinical placement.
Biography
Tova Kerschen is a Nurse Educator in the Bnai Zion Nursing School in Haifa, Israel. She is Coordinator of the Women's Health Program, teaching classes as well as working with the students in the various women's health clinical placements. She had a joint appointment as the Women's Health Coordinator in the Jerusalem's Sharie Zedek Nursing School as well as being a Staff Nurse in the Maternity and Gynaecological departments from 1981-2008. She had presented in various conferences including NETNIP 2014, and RCN Conference for Nurse Educators, 2013.
