Evaluating the Influence of Clinical Experience on the Academic Performance of Student Midwives
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objective of the study are;
- To ascertain the attitude of midwife towards clinical experience
- To ascertain the relationship between clinical experience and academic performance of midwife student
- To identify issues encountered by the nursing students during their clinical practice placement.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of nursing education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people live on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels or acts, (Harrison, 2010). In its narrow, technical sense, education is the formal process by which a profession or society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, customs and values from one generation to another, e.g., instruction in schools (Robert, 2009). Nursing education is a term used to describe the overall body of knowledge that equips people to practice nursing. Although nursing education encompasses a variety of knowledge, attitude, skills, concepts and practice, the universally accepted concept revolves around the unique concepts of nursing, health, the person and the environment (Melone, 2010). Harrison (2010) affirmed that nursing education is the process of preparing individuals for caring as nurses. Through nursing education, future nurses learn the skills which are necessary to provide patient care, develop and execute treatment, plan and teach clients how to take care of their medical and other conditions. Nursing education consists of acquisition of a body of knowledge that is partly delivered in a classroom setting which forms the theoretical bases of nursing knowledge and an organized and supervised clinical learning experience. This clinical training starts with practice in the demonstration laboratory using dummies representing different areas of nursing care. Areas where clinical training could be done include different departments in a hospital clinics, homes, communities, psychiatric hospitals, orthopaedic hospital, gynaecological section etc. Nursing education takes cognizance of the national policy on education in developing sound educational principles which are essential to the preparation of nurses to function as members of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental health teams (N&MCN, 2001). This programme develops the students’ affective, cognitive and psychomotor skills in problem solving. Active participation of nursing students in both the community and hospital based services is essential for students sound clinical experience.
The goal of nursing education
The goal of nursing education over the years according to Searle (2000) has been to contribute to the health of individuals and the entire society. Initially, nursing had concentrated on the care and comfort of all the ill and injured but as a result of advances in health sciences, the emphasis is now placed on promotive, preventive and rehabilitative care. Therefore, nursing education aims at preparing competent polyvalent nurse practitioners who will use problem solving skills in providing safe, acceptable, effective and affordable health services to meet the health needs of individuals, families and the community at all levels of care (N&MCN, 2001). To achieve the aim of nursing education, there should be a systematic direction and guidance of the students. This is to ensure that adequate nursing knowledge is imparted to the students both theoretically and practically to achieve proper skill and problem solving skills acquisition which will lead to efficient nursing care (Quinn 2001).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to evaluating the influence of clinical experience on the academic performance of student midwives.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on evaluating the influence of clinical experience on the academic performance of student midwives. 200 students of selected nursing schools in Akwa Ibom state were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on evaluating the influence of clinical experience on the academic performance of student midwives. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of clinical experience on the academic performance of student midwives.
Summary
This study was on evaluating the influence of clinical experience on the academic performance of student midwives. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the attitude of midwife towards clinical experience, to ascertain the relationship between clinical experience and academic performance of midwife student and to identify issues encountered by the nursing students during their clinical practice placement. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 students of selected nursing schools in Akwa Ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up final year students, year 4 students, year 3 students and year 2 students were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Students who had good communications with clinical staffs, prepared well for clinical practice, practiced in well-equipped hospital, and accompanied frequently by clinical-supervisors in a clinical setting had a favorable attitude towards clinical practice.
Recommendation
Educational institutions, practicing nurses, and student nurses must ensure that clinical learning is optimized.
It is desirable to provide consistent instructors for clinical education of novice students to reduce their confusion because of seeing different ways of doing things. Moreover, the methods of per-forming procedures should be unified between different clinical trainers by periodic coordination programs. Finally, we suggest that a similar study to this one should be carried out in other universities to gain a better insight of the current status of midwifery education
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