Perceptions of factors affecting student-patient matching in Illinois associate degree nurse clinical experiences

The study was exploratory descriptive. The purpose of the study was to focus on the student nurse-patient matching process used by nurse educators in the clinical setting, as this process is lacking in the literature.Two hundred and one Likert type questionnaires were mailed to full-time Associate Degree Nurse educators throughout Illinois who had a minimum of one years clinical experience. The questionnaire was designed to identify Illinois Associate Degree Nurse educator's perceptions of essential elements affecting student-patient matching for the student Associate Degree nurse to demonstrate the synthesis of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills in the clinical setting.The data analysis revealed three items which the clinical educators identified as having the most importance in the student-patient matching process. These items are (a) the matching of clinical and course objectives, (b) the patient's nursing care implementation, and (c) the specific learning needs of the student.The questionnaire items were then investigated by completing an analysis of variance (ANOVA) between each questionnaire item and eight demographic variables to identify promising relationships. The variable, clinical teaching assignment whether basic, medical-surgical, or the specialities (Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Gerontology, or Psychiatric) indicated a level of significance (p =.01) with three questionnaire items. These three items were: (a) the patient's ability to co-operate, (b) previous courses completed completed by the student, and (c) college laboratory preparation of the student. A second variable, the student-instructor ratio, indicated a level of significance (p =.01) with one questionnaire item which was the responsibility of the instructor's role in the clinical setting.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio