Measuring the quality of nursing clinical placements and the development of the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) in a mixed methods co-design project
- Cooper, Simon J., Cant, Robyn, Waters, Donna, Luders, Elise, Henderson, Amanda, Willetts, Georgina, Tower, Marion, Reid-Searl, Kerry, Ryan, Colleen, Hood, Kerry
- Authors: Cooper, Simon J. , Cant, Robyn , Waters, Donna , Luders, Elise , Henderson, Amanda , Willetts, Georgina , Tower, Marion , Reid-Searl, Kerry , Ryan, Colleen , Hood, Kerry
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: BMC Nursing Vol. 19, no. 1 (2020), p.
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- Description: Background: The quality of nursing clinical placements has been found to vary. Placement evaluation tools for nursing students are available but lack contemporary reviews of clinical settings. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a feasible, valid and reliable clinical placement evaluation tool applicable to nursing student placements in Australia. Methods: An exploratory mixed methods co-design project. Phase 1 included a literature review; expert rating of potential question items and Nominal Group Technique meetings with a range of stakeholders for item development. Phase 2 included on-line pilot testing of the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) with 1263 nursing students, across all year levels at six Australian Universities and one further education college in 2019–20, to confirm validity, reliability and feasibility. Results: The PET included 19-items (rated on a 5-point agreement scale) and one global satisfaction rating (a 10-point scale). Placements were generally positively rated. The total scale score (19 items) revealed a median student rating of 81 points from a maximum of 95 and a median global satisfaction rating of 9/10. Criterion validity was confirmed by item correlation: Intra-class Correlation Co-efficient ICC =.709; scale total to global score r =.722; and items to total score ranging from.609 to.832. Strong concurrent validity was demonstrated with the Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision Scale (r =.834). Internal reliability was identified and confirmed in two subscale factors: Clinical Environment (Cronbach’s alpha =.94) and Learning Support (alpha =.96). Based on the short time taken to complete the survey (median 3.5 min) and students’ comments, the tool was deemed applicable and feasible. Conclusions: The PET was found to be valid, reliable and feasible. Use of the tool as a quality assurance measure is likely to improve education and practice in clinical environments. Further international evaluation of the instrument is required to fully determine its psychometric properties. © 2020, The Author(s).
- Description: This work was funded by the Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (Australia and New Zealand) – 2019. The funding body had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript.
- Authors: Cooper, Simon J. , Cant, Robyn , Waters, Donna , Luders, Elise , Henderson, Amanda , Willetts, Georgina , Tower, Marion , Reid-Searl, Kerry , Ryan, Colleen , Hood, Kerry
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: BMC Nursing Vol. 19, no. 1 (2020), p.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Background: The quality of nursing clinical placements has been found to vary. Placement evaluation tools for nursing students are available but lack contemporary reviews of clinical settings. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a feasible, valid and reliable clinical placement evaluation tool applicable to nursing student placements in Australia. Methods: An exploratory mixed methods co-design project. Phase 1 included a literature review; expert rating of potential question items and Nominal Group Technique meetings with a range of stakeholders for item development. Phase 2 included on-line pilot testing of the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) with 1263 nursing students, across all year levels at six Australian Universities and one further education college in 2019–20, to confirm validity, reliability and feasibility. Results: The PET included 19-items (rated on a 5-point agreement scale) and one global satisfaction rating (a 10-point scale). Placements were generally positively rated. The total scale score (19 items) revealed a median student rating of 81 points from a maximum of 95 and a median global satisfaction rating of 9/10. Criterion validity was confirmed by item correlation: Intra-class Correlation Co-efficient ICC =.709; scale total to global score r =.722; and items to total score ranging from.609 to.832. Strong concurrent validity was demonstrated with the Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision Scale (r =.834). Internal reliability was identified and confirmed in two subscale factors: Clinical Environment (Cronbach’s alpha =.94) and Learning Support (alpha =.96). Based on the short time taken to complete the survey (median 3.5 min) and students’ comments, the tool was deemed applicable and feasible. Conclusions: The PET was found to be valid, reliable and feasible. Use of the tool as a quality assurance measure is likely to improve education and practice in clinical environments. Further international evaluation of the instrument is required to fully determine its psychometric properties. © 2020, The Author(s).
- Description: This work was funded by the Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (Australia and New Zealand) – 2019. The funding body had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript.
Nursing degree students’ clinical placement experiences in Australia: A survey design
- Luders, Elise, Cooper, Simon J., Cant, Robyn, Waters, Donna, Tower, Marion
- Authors: Luders, Elise , Cooper, Simon J. , Cant, Robyn , Waters, Donna , Tower, Marion
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nurse Education in Practice Vol. 54, no. (2021), p.
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- Description: Aim: This study aimed to evaluate Australian nursing students’ views of placements at seven tertiary education institutions with the use of the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET). Background: Clinical placements are a core element of healthcare education programs around the world (Chuan and Barnett, 2012) with undergraduate nursing students required to complete a prescribed number of hours as part of their degree. The quality of nursing clinical placements varies with a range of positive and negative learning experiences. Design: A survey design was used with a contemporary survey tool– the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET). Using Qualtrics software (Qualtrics, 2005) the on-line survey was distributed to approximately 6265 undergraduate nursing students at six Australian universities and one Technical and Further Education (TAFE) college where Bachelor of Nursing degree students were enrolled. Three Australian States were covered. Sites were selected where a project team member was employed. Methods: A total of 1263 nursing students completed the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) − 19 items (rated 1–5), one global rating (rated 1–10) − following placement in three Australian States (July 2019−February 2020). Most - 618 (48.9%) completed a placement in acute care with placements positively rated overall. Results: The total PET mean score was 78.3% with 29.8% being ‘extremely satisfied’ (10 out of 10 – Item 20). However, 11.0% were dissatisfied with global ratings of four or less, whilst ratings between States differed significantly (p = <0.001). One third of respondents answered a free text statement relating to placement experiences, with significantly more comments from older students (p = <0.001) and from those with ratings in the lower range (p = <0.001). Three core themes emerged: 1. Staff Attitudes to Students, 2. Environment and 3. Lifestyle. Conclusions: Whilst students’ clinical experiences in Australia tend to be positive a minority reported exposure to negative staff attitudes, in unsafe environments, with lifestyle detriments. Further work is required to understand and enhance student experiences. © 2021. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Elise Luders, Simon Cooper, Robyn Cant" is provided in this record**
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