Clinical Experiences of Third Year Nursing Students of Lorma Colleges

Introduction

Background of the Study:

No doubt about it, experience is the best teacher. This has been proven a lot of
times by people in different walks of life, from different fields of practice.

In the field of Nursing, it has been noted that one could gain experience
through lectures and related learning or clinical experiences. For one thing, experience
teaches most nurses to trust their instincts.

Nursing is evolving as a discipline. Its resources are precious; allocations

should be based on a well-considered-agenda that will determine the future direction
and scope of the evolution. In the past, Nursing emphasized outcomes applied
research. Since Nursing is a practice-based discipline, it is appropriate to continue to
perform studies that solve clinical problems. As an evolving discipline, Nursing must
also emphasize theory-generating basic research necessary to build new constructs
that will form a framework for the emerging body of knowledge. Institutions and
organizations targeting topics for research should identify clinical problem areas and
the basic science data needed to understand the problems. Communication and
collaboration between basic science and clinical researchers will enrich Nursing
science.

In General, nursing is the process of caring and nurturing, another individual.

More specifically, nursing refers to the care of the sick and to associate preventive
public health work. This embraces the functions and duties carried out by people who
have had formal education and training in the art and science of nursing, commonly
in the support of doctors, dentists, and other medical workers.

Nursing courses normally require good secondary school or college grades.

Training traditionally, is the learning with some reference to the environment of the
clinical setting, particularly the hospital. It is where the nursing student has many
learning experience. Physical conditions, social climate, discipline and skills have
equal relevance to the clinical setting as a learning situation. Training makes one
acutely aware of the fact that learning is a never ending process, regardless of the
profession one chooses or the level of education attained.
 This study focuses on the role of clinical research within the discipline of
Nursing science. Clinical research deals with practical application and implementation
of theories in existing situations. It is distinguished from basic research which is
defined as a scientific inquiry in pursuit of knowledge without regard for the
application of knowledge. In Nursing, basic research is often designed to expand the
scientific basis for clinical research. Clinical nursing research , in turn, is designed to
validate implications of basic science practice, to solve clinical problems, to guide
policy, or to establish appropriate protocols. Clinical research can offer appropriate
and relevant solutions to practical problems.

No one, least of all nursing students question the value of duty hours in
relation to the gaining experience. It is the most important single tool in acquiring a
formal education in nursing. It provides a rich means of self-education. It is worth all
the effort that one can put into it.

More than that, experience has shown that almost anyone, of any age, can
learn better. With proper guidance and with systematic practice, improvement is
certain. Most students who take a course in Nursing find that they double their efforts
rather easily and at the same time, improve their comprehension substantially. Of
course, some do better than others, but on the average, proficiency does increase
markedly.

This is not to say that all of the aforesaid kinds of learning are less complex
than some related to the content of this particular research study. The division of
content was made on the basis of the way on which schools rather traditionally
organize the learning experiences for students.

This research study is written with the intent of serving as a reading material
that will enable the students to study more effectively the relation of duty hours in
gaining experience.

Significance of the Study:

This research was made to evaluate the student’s performance and experience
in complying with the demands of their Related learning Experiences (RLE). It will
provide them understanding in determining their problems in the ward-learning center
and such understanding will lead them to think of solutions to their problems in the
manner of positive thinking. In short, it will foster creativity in them.

Nursing practice often involves work in stressful environments. The nursing

students have to undergo the rigors of the academic subjects as well as the practicum
in the clinical area. In passing all these, problems hit the students. Therefore, this
study will assist them to determine and understand the effectiveness and adequacy of
their clinical duty.

Limited research has been conducted relative to this topic; therefore, the
findings of the study will make the students realize the importance of their clinical
exposure and the value of time in relation to the knowledge and experience gained in
the clinical duty.

Respondents:

The respondents were mainly composed of the Third Year Nursing Students of
Lorma Colleges in the school year 2012-2013. They were made as our respondents
due to the fact that they are capable of answering our questionnaires because they
have enough knowledge and understanding about our study, related to the theories,
standard nursing interventions, models based from the fundamentals of nursing by
kozier and other books that would support our study.

Nature and Limitations:

The descriptive research was used to study the adequacy of experiences gained
from having their duty on different areas of Junior Nursing Students of Lorma
Colleges in School Year 2012-2013. It is also used to render recommendation and
different perceptions toward the practice of head nursing of Senior Nursing students of
Lorma Colleges.

This study was limited to Junior Nursing students of Lorma Colleges who were
enrolled for the school year 2012-2013. Our study was limited for them because
certainly, they can correlate more to our study rather than to freshmen because
basically, freshmen do not have any experience in the clinical area, and their
knowledge and perceptions are only concentrated to theories and standards of nursing
practice. With this, Junior Nursing students can have better judgement in answering
our questionnaires that would give support to our study.
Researchers Background:

We, the researchers, are Third year nursing students of Lorma College, College
of Nursing enrolled in the school year 2011-2012. Like any other nursing student, we
are obliged to follow different kinds of rules and regulation in our school, and
basically, the College of Nursing practices strict discipline and punctuality because we
all know that nurses should always be ready, always be presentable to our patients
and always wear the Lorma smile. And in terms of practice, we always follow our
interventions from the book, and in everything that we do, we always have to base our
plans, actions, and decisions from the book. But reality tells us that in certain times,
we tend to not follow and not base our actions from the standards of nursing practice,
but instead, we improvise to attain the same goal. Surely, some practices in the
clinical area contradict the lessons learned from class hours related to theoretical
concepts and practices. But we couldn’t change the fact that experiences obtained
from such settings gives more understanding in different situations that would help us
have better judgement and better interventions to these certain events.

With this, we are then moved and gained interest in conducting this study. We
know that experience cannot be measured, but it can be describe. That is why
different nursing students have different approach to a same situation, some
intervened the situation better, and some are fair enough. We are also interested on
how the Clinical Instructors impart their knowledge to students and know how
effective it is. Certainly, gaining experience is affected by the enthusiasm of the
student to learn more about the profession and we know that it is the most important
tool in acquiring a formal education in nursing. It’s worth of all the effort that one put
into it.

Objective of the Study:

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the learning experiences of the
student nurses of Lorma College in the clinical area.

Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions:

1. Is there enough time allotted for student’s to gain enough experience?

2. Is there any other way students could enrich their knowledge aside from
those that are learned in the daily round of duty?
3. Are the students aware of the emergence of new facilities in the hospital
setting?
 4. Are the students allowed to join in related learning programs sponsored by
the hospital?
5. Are the students absorbs more knowledge depending on the C.I?

Research Design:

Descriptive research defined as a purposive process of gathering, analysing,

classifying and tabulating data about prevailing condition, processes, beliefs, trends
and cause and effect relationship and the making adequate and accurate
interpretation about such data with or without the aid of statistical methods. It also
describes the different experiences encountered by nursing student in the clinical
area. This study tries to determine also the adequacy of experiences gained by
different Third Year nursing students exposed to different clinical area’s in the
formulation of their competence in the future and how well they practice the standard
nursing process in terms of Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Intervention and
Evaluation as well as the factors that commonly affecting on their formulation of the
process.

Population Locale:

The study was conducted at Lorma Colleges, Carlatan, San Fernando City, La
Union in the school year 2011-2012. The respondents were Third Year Nursing
Students of Lorma Colleges. From a total population of…..

Data Gathering Tools:

The gathering instrument or tools used in the study was the questionnaire type
and the interview type.

Our questionnaire sought to draw information about their perception toward

their gained experiences from their exposure to different clinical areas comparing and
basing it from lessons learned in the class provided with theories and standard
nursing practices. The questionnaire consisted twenty-one items based on theoretical
concepts and related studies presented. It didn’t sought to draw information about the
respondents profile to provide confidentiality.
 The interview to be conducted to the selected respondents will add more facts
and ideas that will help us gain our objective and give support to our study.

Data Procedure:

After the researchers formulated the questionnaires and was validated, they
asked permission to the Dean of College of Nursing, Mrs. Ludivina D. Magpali, to float
the questionnaires to the designated respondents. Also, the researchers sought
permission to the instructors on duty for selected classes to enter to the room for a
couple of minutes so that respondents could answer the queries in the questionnaire.
The questionnaire was utilized to gather the necessary data from the respondents and
was instructed to put a check the letter that corresponds to their answer and it
wouldn’t take a lot of time in answering the questionnaires because it was already
been simplified. When the respondents were done in answering, the researcher collects
the tools immediately and tallies them.

After conducting the survey using the questionnaires, Interviews are to be

conducted to selected Third year Nursing students enrolled in the school year 2012-
2013. Their answers, suggestions, recommendations and perceptions toward our
questions related to our study were then written to provide adequate support to our
study.

Interviews:

Validity of Instruments:

For the validation of the questionnaire, the draft was subjected for improvement
and notification to research experts. They evaluated the data gathering instrument.
Comments and suggestions on the questionnaire were incorporated.
 Lorma Colleges

College of Nursing

City of San Fernando, La Union

Dear Ma’am,

Greetings!

We, the undersigned students of BSN III-2, are presently conducting a research study
on “Clinical Experiences of Third Year Nursing Students”, in relation with our
requirements in thesis writing.

In line with this, we would like to ask your permission to obtain the total population of
Second Year Nursing students of Lorma College, College of nursing to provide legality
on our study and give accurate data in conducting our study. Rest assured that the
information will be kept confidential.

Thank You and God Bless

Respectfully Yours,

Advincula, Mark Anthony P.

Casabar, Julius R.

Diaz, Lee Nathaniel M.

Labagala, Reynald M.

Nebriaga, Jan-Frederick A.

Noted by:

Mr. Charles Rivera

Research Instructor
Questionnaire:

DIRECTION: Check the letter(s) which corresponding your answer.

I. STUDENT
1. How do you rate yourself as a student nurse?

____a. outstanding ____d. fair

____b. very satisfactory ____e. poor

____c. satisfactory

2. What can you say about having your duty in a ward for a second time?

____a. challenging ____c. educational

____b. boring ____d. others (please specify)

3. Have you been assigned to special areas?

____a. oftentimes ____c. never

____b. once ____d. sometimes

4. Is the clinical rotation of duties to the students effective?

____a. always ____c. never

____b. sometimes

II. TIME
5. How many weeks of duty do you prefer for a sufficient learning on a
certain area?

____a. (2) two weeks duty ____c. (4) four weeks duty

____b. (8) eight weeks duty

6. What can you say about the (2) two week rotation?

____a. enough ____c. more than enough

____b. limited

7. What can you say about the (4) four weeks rotation?

____a. enough ____c. more than enough

____b. limited
 8. What can you say about the (8) eight weeks rotation?

____a. enough ____c. more than enough

____b. limited

9. After consuming your duty hours, do you think it’s sufficient for your
learning?

____a. always ____c. never

____b. sometimes

III. ACTIVITIES
10. What do you usually do in the different clinical area?

____a. endorsement ____e. administration of medication

____b. admission of patients ____f. charting

____c. (NPI) Nurse-Patient Interaction ____g. discharge

____d. Preparing medication ____h. lecture

11. How do you find the practice of Head nursing in the ward?

____a. effective ____b. ineffective

12. How are the lessons learned in the class applied in the clinical area or
hospital?

____a. always ____c. seldom

____b. often ____d. never

13. In your clinical duty, which is given more emphasis?

____a. skills

____b. theory

____c. theory

14. Are you satisfied with the activities you perform in the ward?

____a. always ____c. sometimes

____b, usually ____d. never

IV. CLINICAL INSTRUCTORS
15. What are the attitudes of the C.I’s to their students?

____a. friendly ____d. strict

____b. accommodating ____e. others, specify

____c. unapproachable

16. Does the efficiency of the C.I affect the quality of the student’s education
and learning?

____a. yes ____c. sometimes

____b. no

17. Are the C.I’s conducting ward classes while on duty?

____a. oftentimes ____c. sometimes

____b. never

18. How do you find the holding of ward classes while on duty?

____a. effective ____c. ineffective

____b. less effective

V. FACILITIES
19. Are the students allowed to use new facilities in the hospital?

____a. always ____c. never

____b. sometimes

20. Are the students taught on how to use these new facilities?

____a. always ____c. never

___b. sometimes

21. Is the hospital equipment easily accessible or readily available when

needed?

____a. always ____c. never

____b. sometimes