Nursing Students’ Perceptions of the Dedicated Education Unit Model in 2 UAE Hospitals

Abstract

Background: Initially developed in Australia, Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) is an innovative approach to support the growth and development of nursing students while on clinical placement in the hospital setting. With the increasing number of nursing students requiring clinical placement, nursing needed to explore further ways to support students and preceptors in the clinical area. Methods: The study followed a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design to investigate participants' perceptions of the effectiveness of the DEU model in improving nursing students' learning experiences. The DEU model was implemented in 2 Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) hospitals in Al Ain City, and feedback was obtained from both students and their preceptors via survey and focus group sessions. Results: The study showed positive results with students feeling supported to learn new knowledge and skills by their preceptors. Preceptors reported that they were better able to facilitate student placements in an environment that supported learning. Conclusion: The introduction of the DEU model has supported increasing numbers of students in the clinical area and provided an improved environment for learning.

The Learning Environment of Student Nurses During Clinical Placement: A Qualitative Case Study of a Student-Dense Ward

“…Research shows that organizing clinical placement as student-dense ward models can positively influence students' professional development (Halse & Hage, 2006;Hooper et al, 2020) and provide satisfactory learning outcomes (Halse et al, 2016). Moreover, features of the model such as students taking responsibility for their own learning, working with different nurses, and being included in a learning environment where they have the attention and support of the nurses has a positive impact on the students' learning process (Bourgeois et al, 2011;Budgen & Gamroth, 2008;Hooper et al, 2020). Distinctive features of the student-dense ward model include the following: much of the learning happens between students, students observe how different nurses work, and there are high demands placed on the students to take responsibility for their own learning.…”

“…Clinical placement is an essential part of nursing education which educational institutions spend significant resources to organize (Forber et al, 2016; Hooper et al, 2020; Jayasekara et al, 2018). Forber et al (2016) point out that the effective implementation of models for clinical education is vital for students’ learning outcomes.…”

“…One model goes by the name "student-dense ward" in Norway (Halse et al, 2016;Halse & Hage, 2004;Strand et al, 2013). Similar models have been launched in other countries under different names, for example, dedicated education unit (DEU) (Hooper et al, 2020;Pedregosa et al, 2020;Pedregosa et al, 2021), clinical education unit (CEU) (Jayasekara et al, 2018;Pedregosa et al, 2020), the cluster model (Bourgeois et al, 2011;Croxon & Maginnis, 2009), and collaborative learning unit (CLU) (Marcellus et al, 2019).…”

A phenomenographic study exploring the conceptions of stakeholders on their teaching and learning roles in nursing education

“…Nursing education involves a number of stakeholders in the teaching and learning process, and these are student nurses, lecturers, clinical instructors and nurses [ 1 – 3 ]. The role that each of these parties play in the teaching and learning process is dependent on each other and is key to the development of competence among student nurses [ 4 ].…”

“…Although clinical education models have been found to improve clinical learning, they fall short of looking at nursing education holistically and clarifying the roles played by all parties in nursing education. Such models include Clinical supervision model, Preceptorship model and the Dedicated Education Model [ 3 , 22 ]. In their evaluation of academic practice models, Pedregosa et al, [ 11 ] called for the analysis of how the different actors in nursing education are involved.…”