Nurse educators' suggestions for a digital educational resource suitable for undergraduate student nurses' placement studies: Qualitative empirical research

Abstract

Aims To explore and describe nurse educators' suggestions regarding a digital educational resource addressing quality in placement studies for first‐year student nurses in nursing homes. Design A qualitative, explorative, and descriptive research design. Methods Focus group interviews with eight nurse educators and individual interviews with six nurse educators. The interviews were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim; subsequently, data were analysed in lines with content analysis as described by Graneheim and Lundman. Results The analysis revealed three main categories: ‘Suggestions for a digital educational resource to strengthen and support nurse educators’ role in follow‐up students', ‘Suggestions for a digital educational resource to complement and support interaction between stakeholders in placement’, and ‘Suggestions for a digital educational resource to facilitate student nurses' learning processes’. The categories were captured by the overarching theme, ‘A digital educational resource facilitating interaction between stakeholders and students' learning processes. Conclusion This study revealed nurse educators' suggestions regarding design elements, content, and use of a digital educational resource addressing placement studies for first‐year student nurses' in nursing homes. Implications for the profession and/or patient care: Nurse educators should be involved in designing, developing, and implementing digital educational resources aiming to support student learning in nursing education placement studies. Impact This study explored nurse educators' suggestions for a digital educational resource. They suggested a digital educational resource to strengthen and support their role, support interaction between stakeholders, and facilitate student nurses' learning processes. Further, they suggested a digital educational resource to be used as a supplement rather than as a replacement for nurse educators' physical presence in placements. Reporting method The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research reporting guidelines were used. No Patient or Public Contribution.

Usefulness of pedagogical design features of a digital educational resource into nursing home placement: a qualitative study of nurse educators’ experiences

“…Nurse educators experienced the interactive communication features of the digiQUALinPRAX resource as a valued component, as it enhanced their ability to provide written feedback on students’ submissions for their learning processes. This finding is also important, as earlier research [ 42 , 43 ] has revealed that many students received insufficient written feedback on their submissions from nurse educators during clinical placement education. This inappropriate feedback may have a negative influence on students’ learning experiences, whereas it might hinder them in their ability to identify areas in which they need to improve and further study to close their gap in knowledge [ 43 ].…”

“…This forum played a vital role in facilitating interactions between students and the stakeholders involved in overseeing and supervising students during their nursing home placement. Previous research supports the notion that this interactive design feature, integrated into digital educational resources, is essential for effectively implementing and utilising technology to enhance student supervision [ 20 , 42 , 59 ]. Notably, the presence of such dialogue forums, which enables interaction among stakeholders, has been reported as an indicator of satisfaction with digital educational resources [ 20 ].…”

“…Nurse educators positively experienced that pedagogical design features of the digiQUALinPRAX resource encouraged registered nurse mentors to provide a written assessment concerning both the strengths and weaknesses of student progression prior to summative assessment meetings, resulting in registered nurse mentors becoming more verbal during the meetings. Several studies have reported that nurse educators experience challenges in assessment meetings because of registered nurse mentors’ silence [ 42 , 52 , 56 ]. When nurse educators in our study experienced that registered nurse mentors wrote and verbalised what was expected from the students to work on during the remaining placement study, they were given opportunities to gear their student supervision towards the learning needs to focus on.…”

“…Further, the nurse educators experienced the timeline-defined specific topics for the reflection papers positively, ensuring that the topics did not become dependent on individual nurse educators’ preferences. In Ravik et al [ 42 ], nurse educators requested greater consensus among themselves to enhance student supervision. Differences among nurse educators might be perceived as unjust by students and could account for some students learning more than others during placement studies because they receive more personalised attention from their nurse educators [ 58 ].…”

“…Even though the nurse educators highlighted the importance of a dialogue forum contributing to openness between all stakeholders during student supervision, they pointed out that the dialogue forum should be available for the nurse educator and registered nurse mentor only, allowing for confidential dialogues in challenging situations. Therefore, the interactive dialogue forum can create an atmosphere where nurse educators and registered nurse mentors can share concerns, exchange perspectives, and collaboratively develop strategies to address the challenges faced by students [ 42 ]. This is in line with previous research suggesting that open and confidential communication among stakeholders contributes to finding common ground and fostering productive resolutions [ 57 ].…”