Clinical instructors key element to help improve nursing training

May 28, 2017 News

Clinical instructors have a crucial role to play in the quest to improve nursing education. It is for this reason that those within the Health Education department of the Ministry of Public Health have been advocating for

The facilitators and participants of the recent workshop.

the recruitment of Clinical Instructors by the Public Service Ministry.
According to Director of Health Education, Wilton Benn, a move in this direction is part of a deliberate strategy to improve nursing education.
Nursing education has in recent months come under the microscope especially in light of troubling failure rates. Minister Benn and others in the Health Education have been mandated to put measures in place to reverse this trend.
But according to Benn, the need for Clinical Instructors was long recognised. “We have always been conscious of that and I can confidently say to you that our preceptors recognise very clearly that we need that kind of support,” said Benn as he expressed confidence that the Public Service Ministry will see the wisdom in bringing on board Clinical Instructors.
Already there are a number of people who are willing to apply for such a position once it is brought into being. A suitable Clinical instructor is an individual with a background in nursing including a Bachelor’s Degree that is complemented by clinical knowledge and teaching ability. “We are not assuming once you have clinical skills it is sufficient…it is a modern world and we have to embrace and follow research…you have to pay attention to the strategy of teaching,” said Benn of a potential Clinical Instructor.
According to Benn, “This is not something new, as educators we always recognised the whole role and value of Clinical Instructors as part of the faculty. It was never embraced by the Public Service Ministry because it was felt that traditionally students received guidance in the clinical area by the full time staff present there [on the wards].”
But according to the Health Education Director, “The error in judgement had to do with the fact that there is a very different model that exists today in which, for example, there is are larger class sizes.”
Benn explained that the teaching and learning process when it comes to nursing should not be accidental but rather focused and thus the role of Clinical Instructors is critical to that.
“The Public Service Ministry will see the need…We are confident that they will see the need. It is very obvious; it would be embarrassing to take a different position because there is very clear recognition that you cannot rely simply on teaching in a regular classroom and spend considerable time in a practice environment and you don’t have focused teaching and attention to sort of build the skills that are required,” Benn asserted.
According to him, with Clinical Instructors in their rightful place the quality of teaching and learning will impact on the ability of the nursing students to get a better grasp of their courses and they will also be able to fulfil the competencies that are required of nurses.
“We are people that think ‘big picture’ and we understand that for the system to work well you have to pay attention to all of the components…” said Benn as he also stressed the need for paying attention to continuing education of tutors and school administrators.
Benn’s disclosure was forthcoming at the closing of a workshop last week at the Health Education Department Forte Street, Kingston Georgetown location.
The workshop was designed to train instructors already associated with nursing education to become master trainers in their respective regions.
Facilitating the training was Ms. Mandy LaFleur who highlighted, “We want to develop master trainers in clinical instruction. We have been able to address a number of clinical issues that we hope can build the capacity of Clinical Instructors.”
During the workshop, LaFleur said that efforts were even made to discuss and detail the job description of a Clinical Instructor.
“We went through that very thoroughly and we were able to get some consensus on what are the expected roles and responsibilities of the Clinical Instructor.”
The week-long training session, according to LaFleur, saw a great deal of methods and concepts being reinforced to those in training.
Also involved in the process was Sister Audrey Cory who claimed to be involved in the process from the inception. “We want to see people who can deliver effectively in terms of training, skills and in the learning laboratory as well as in the clinical setting [on the wards]…” said Sister Cory.
Setting the stage for the introduction of Clinical Instructors in the system comes as part of the efforts that are slated to be implemented in the quest to improve the nursing education programme.