Anita Jennings
George Brown College, Canada
Title: A grounded theory study to explore the pedagogical practices of clinical nurse educators
Biography
Biography: Anita Jennings
Abstract
Clinical practice is an essential component in undergraduate nursing programs and clinical nurse educators are primarily involved in teaching in the clinical arena. Clinical instruction is a pedagogical process, where the clinical instructor guides and instructs students in their learning about nursing in the clinical environment. The teaching practice of nurse educators is underrepresented in the literature in nursing education and the forms of knowledge that clinical instructors bring to their teaching practice is absent. A grounded theory methodology suggested by Charmaz in 2010, guided the study design. Exploratory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve clinical nurse educator participants teaching in undergraduate nursing programs in a large metropolitan city in Ontario, Canada. The purpose of this study was twofold; to theorize the pedagogical practices of clinical nurse educators and to uncover the challenges that participants encountered while teaching in the clinical arena. The results revealed five important findings. In this presentation, the author discusses two of the study results. They are - The forms of knowledge that participants brought to their teaching in the clinical arena and the ethical practices that underpins their teaching. Teaching in the clinical arena in nursing is complex and multilayered. The practice of clinical nurse educators and how they contribute to student learning will be discussed in this presentation.