Difficulties in clinical nursing education: perspectives of nurse educators in a selected faculty of nursing

Background Clinical education is an essential part of nursing education. It aims to prepare students to be able to provide safe and quality nursing care. However, despite its significance, it carries many difficulties for responsible nurse educators due to its unique nature. Aim To determine the difficulties of clinical nursing education from nurse educators’ perspectives. Design A descriptive design was used. Setting The current study was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Cairo University. Sample A purposive sample consisting of 180 nurse educators who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Tools (a) Nurse educator’s characteristics sheet and (b) difficulties in clinical nursing education from perspectives of nurse educator’s questionnaire. Results The study results revealed that the difficulties from the perspectives of nurse educators included students/educator ratio (48.9%), availability of conference rooms (57.2%), availability of sufficient numbers of clinical settings (51.1%), availability of changing rooms for faculty staff members (48.9%), availability of needed supplies and equipment for training (45.0%), and overcrowding as a result of presence of students from other programs that result in lack of learning opportunities (46.7%). Conclusion There are many difficulties in clinical nursing education from the perspective of nurse educators. On top of these difficulties were the increasing number of students and the lack of educational facilities in clinical settings. Recommendation Faculty administration should plan carefully in relation to student/educator ratio as well as provide adequate facilities and resources to achieve educational objectives.