The Effect of Supportive Clinical Environment in internship period on Clinical Competence of Nursing Students

Clinical education accounts for about 50% of nursing education programs and plays an important role in the full achievement of clinical nursing students, so they should change the environment in a way that facilitates studentschr('39') learning and education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of supportive clinical environment in internship period on clinical competence of nursing students.

Methods and materials:

 This randomized qusi- experimental study was carried out with 60 nursing students who allocated in two groups of intervention and control randomly in educational hospitals of Mashhad. For interventional students was performed the clinical support program, which included three components of knowledge, skills, and learning platform for two weeks. Before and after the intervention, their clinical competency was measured by Meretoja modified clinical competence scale. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16 and independent t-test, Mann-Whitney, paired T-test and Chi-square.

The result of independent t-test showed that after the intervention, the mean score of clinical competency of the students in the intervention group (80.8 ± 16.6 of 100) was significantly (68.3 ± 10.9 of 100) more than the control group (p= 0.003). Also the mean score of clinical competency of the intervention group in the dimensions of patient assistance, education, guidance and therapeutic measures was significantly higher than that of the control group (P <0.05).

Creating a supportive clinical environment will enhance the clinical competence of the students, especially in the areas of patient assistance and further education and guidance, and it is recommended that more attention be paid to planning clinical nursing education.