An innovative model of supportive clinical teaching and learning for undergraduate nursing students: the cluster model.

Students look forward to their clinical practicum to learn within the context of reality nursing. As educators we need to actively develop models of clinical practicum whereby students are supported to engage and learn in the clinical learning environment. The aim of this paper is to describe an innovative model of supportive clinical teaching and learning for undergraduate nursing students as implemented in a large teaching hospital in New South Wales, Australia. The model of supportive clinical teaching and learning situates eight students at a time, across a shift, on one ward, with an experienced registered nurse from the ward specialty, who is employed as the clinical teacher to support nursing students during their one to two week block practicum. Results from written evaluation statements inform the discussion component of the paper for a model that has proved to be successful in this large healthcare facility.