Student Perceptions of Clinical Instructor Characteristics Affecting Clinical Experiences: a Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate how students perceive the characteristics of clinical instructors that have an impact on their clinical experiences and aid programs in improving clinical education, and to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical instructor characteristics. Design: Study of a systematic review.   Data sources: From three online web databases including PubMed, EBSCOhost (CINAHL), and Science Direct. In addition, searches for key article references were carried out. Review studies that were published from 2017 to 2022.   Review methods: A five hundred sixty-two extracted literature from databased articles published in no more than five years, the PRISMA flowchart clarifying the data collection procedure which was manually reviewed, and the study included 19 documents for further analysis.   Results: Through the investigation of 19 studies that met the criteria: nine qualitative studies, eight quantitative studies, and two mixed methods. The majority of these studies were cross-sectional descriptive studies while one of them was a quasi-experimental design a pretest-posttest. Two studies from quantitative design utilized the same instrument as a standardized tool used to measure the Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory (NCTEI) survey tool developed by Knox and Mogan (1985).   Conclusion: The experiences and opinions of many students’ nurses, faculties, and clinical instructors about the characteristics of CI is an ongoing and fluctuating process according to their perceptions of them. However, clinical instructors are crucial in helping student nurses develop the skills necessary to be effective and competent practitioners.