New Ways and Environments for Using the CLES Framework

Abstract

Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision scale (CLES) has been used and validated in many countries (see Chapter 4). Most commonly, the validation studies have been carried out in a hospital environment and the samples have consisted of general nursing students. An interesting enquiry was raised concerning the validity and implications of the CLES framework in other fields of healthcare services and healthcare student groups including medical students. This chapter presents new ways and environments for implementing the CLES scale, with healthcare students in general, and international nursing students in particular. The examples come from healthcare and medical education. The section dealing with challenges relating to international students' clinical practicum also introduces a new scale Cultural and Linguistic Diversity scale (CALDs). This scale is developed for international nursing students and can be used together with the CLES+T scale. 9.1. Healthcare and medical students In order to ensure the quality of the clinical learning environment and supervision of healthcare students, Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision scale (CLES) has been used and validated for various professional contexts. Three examples of original studies examining the use of the CLES scale include nursing students (Bos et al. 2012) and medical students (Öhman et al. 2016) in primary healthcare in Sweden; and midwifery students in primary and specialized healthcare in Lithuania (Kontrimaite 2017). Example from Sweden-nursing students in primary healthcare The investigation examined nursing and medical students' perspectives on the clinical learning environment in primary healthcare settings in Sweden (Bos 2014, Öhman et al. 2016). Students' perceptions on primary healthcare as a learning environment were measured using the CLES+T scale on nursing students (Bos et al. 2012) and CLES scale on medical students (Öhman et al. 2016). The purpose was to identify factors that promote a constructive) clinical learning environment in primary healthcare settings. This was the first time the scale was used and validated in a new learning environment. Table 9.1 presents the newly validated CLES+T scale for nursing students for primary healthcare settings.