Clinical supervision of nursing students: challenges and alternatives

Abstract

Clinical supervision is described as a formal process of professional learning support in the clinical practice. The goal of clinical practice is to prepare nursing students develop and apply the necessary theoretical and empirical knowledge and skills in order for them to practice as safely and effectively as professional nurses. Accordingly, the clinical environment is vital to the nursing education for the achievement of clinical learning outcomes, including enhancement of the students’ competence. It is conceded that professionalism even among student nurses can increase the clients’ acceptance and trust and thus provides more opportunities for students to practice such activities as history taking, physical examination, nursing procedures, and communication with the clients. This paper describes the views of the authors who have served as student nurse supervisors, as pertains to clinical supervisory challenges and possible models for enhancement of support for student nurses in Rwanda.

Keywords: Clinical supervision, student nurses, clinical supervision models