Clinical nurse teaching: an investigation of student perceptions of clinical nurse teacher behaviours.

This paper reports one of a series of studies designed to investigate the role of the clinical nurse teacher. The major questions addressed were students' perceptions of the importance of sets of clinical teacher behaviours and the extent to which perceptions were influenced by year of study, educational institution, student status and demographic characteristics. Four hundred and two student nurses selected from three Melbourne tertiary institutions were administered a standard measure of clinical teacher behaviours. Ratings of the importance of five sets of behaviours were analyzed for the total sample and for student subgroups. Results showed student nurses assigned greater importance to the role of the clinical instructor as a teacher, followed by behaviours associated with guidance, demonstrating the nursing role, applying theory to practice and evaluation. Significant differences were found for year of study, institution, student status, age and gender. Implications of the findings are discussed in regard to student learning in the clinical setting and faculty development.