Influence of student nurses' perceived caring behavior of their instructors on their psychological well-being: a cross-sectional study.

AIM: This study aimed to understand the influence of clinical instructors' caring behavior on the psychological well-being of student nurses. DESIGN: This study survey used the quantitative cross-sectional research design. METHOD: The sample comprised 405 Saudi nursing students studying at Shaqra University. The study used two instruments: the "Nursing Students' Perceptions of Instructor Caring" and the "Student Well-being Process Questionnaire." Convenience sampling was used to collect data from November 2021 to February 2022. RESULT: The students' perceived Instructor caring was high. The psychological well-being of students was high. There were significant variations in the students' perceived Instructor's caring in terms of year level. A very weak positive correlation existed between the student nurses' rank in their families and their perceived Instructor's caring. Furthermore, gender, year level, family structure, and the Instructor's caring subscales "supportive learning climate," "appreciation of life's meaning," and "control versus flexibility" were significant predictors of the student's psychological well-being. CONCLUSION: The study's results support studies that nursing students' psychological well-being is influenced by their gender, family structure, year level, and perceived Instructor's caring behavior.

Clinical Instructors' Perspectives on the Assessment of Clinical Knowledge of Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Descriptive Phenomenological Approach.

This study aimed to determine clinical instructors' perceptions of the assessments used to evaluate the clinical knowledge of undergraduate nursing students. This study uses a descriptive phenomenological approach. Purposive sampling was used to recruit sixteen clinical instructors for semi-structured interviews between August and December 2019. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using a modified Colaizzi's seven-step method. Four criteria were used to ensure the study's validity: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Three themes were identified in the clinical instructors' views on evaluating the clinical performance of student nurses: familiarity with students, patchwork clinical learning, and differing perceptions of the same scoring system. The study results suggest a need for a reliable, valid, and consistent approach to evaluating students' clinical knowledge. If the use of patchwork clinical internships for student nurses is unavoidable, a method for assessing student nurses' clinical performance that requires instructor consensus is necessary.

Impact of an online pharmacy precepting-focused continuing professional development program.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to determine the preceptor-reported impact of an online continuing professional development (CPD) program on pharmacy preceptors' abilities and techniques for teaching students in clinical settings. METHODS: In 2017, an online program to educate and support pharmacy preceptors' use of CPD to create individualized clinical teaching development plans was launched. After allowing time for preceptors to implement their CPD plan, a follow-up program was launched in 2019 where preceptors completed a seven-question survey to assess their impact on clinical teaching from the initial program. Two questions described completion of the CPD plan with response options including "Yes," "No," or "Partially". Five open-ended questions allowed for descriptions of changes implemented and overall teaching impact. Impact of implemented changes were categorized as positive, negative, or no change. Changes implemented by preceptors were categorized as goal setting, feedback, communication/education skills, student-teacher connection, or educational resources development. RESULTS: Of the 119 preceptors who responded to at least one question, 52% fully implemented and 39% partially implemented their pre-identified CPD plan. A total of 75 preceptors provided responses regarding impact of implemented activities; 69 (92%) were coded as a positive impact on their clinical teaching. Preceptor skill development was most commonly in communication/educational skills (45%), student/teacher connection (33%), and educational resources development (33%). CONCLUSIONS: This online precepting CPD program had a positive preceptor-reported impact on clinical teaching delivered by preceptors to students. Further investigation is warranted to disseminate this program.

The role of motivation in the intention of nurse clinical instructors to persevere in their role: A cross-sectional study.

AIM: To examine factors related to clinical instructors' motivation to persevere in their role, such as motivation, benefits and support. BACKGROUND: Clinical nursing education is mainly based on acquiring hands-on training provided by clinical instructors in various health environments. In recent years the number of nursing students in Israel has increased, resulting in a shortage of clinical instructors. One of the reasons is that many clinical instructors do not persevere in their role for long. DESIGN: A quantitative cross-sectional study. METHODS: Participants included 176 licensed clinical instructors. Data were collected between January 2020 and March 2020 using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included five parts: personal details, job benefits, perceived support, motivation for serving as a clinical instructor (autonomous motivation, controlled motivation and amotivation) and the intention to persevere as a clinical instructor. RESULTS: Findings showed clinical instructors' intention to persevere in their role was positively associated with the overall score for motivation, perceived support and job benefits and negatively associated with amotivation (defined as a state where people do not intend to perform a particular behavior or do not know why they are performing it). Two mediation models analyses indicated that autonomous motivation fully mediates the relationship between support and the intention to persevere as a clinical instructor and that amotivation partially mediates the relationship between job benefits and the intention to persevere as a clinical instructor. The findings also demonstrated a correlation between the nature of the benefits preferred by clinical instructors and their motivation to persevere in their role. CONCLUSIONS: Motivation plays an important role in the intentions of clinical instructors to persevere in their role. Providing clinical instructors with support from various resources and adjusting the benefits offered according to their needs may also raise their motivation to persevere in their role. Moreover, health managers and educators should pay attention to and follow the professional training and guidance processes of new and existing clinical instructors to establish and strengthen their internal motivation so that they continue willingly in their positions.

Establishing the Need for Standardized Clinical Educator Training Programs for Medical Laboratory Professionals.

BACKROUND: There is minimal, if any, training for clinical educators in medical laboratory professions. This leads to challenges with teaching, assessment and workload/training balance. Hence, the need for standardized clinical educator training. METHOD: A survey was developed, validated and deployed to medical laboratory professionals. Responses were analyzed using SPSS. Responses from two open-ended questions-is clinical educators' training important and how is this training beneficial?-were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Most participants indicated that clinical educator training is important (99.4%). However, 72.4% received no formal training prior to training student. Themes from the importance of training include: Equip clinical educators, body of knowledge, standardize training and quality of training. Themes that emerged from the benefits of clinical educators training involve Training content, logistics, professional behavior and technical skills. CONCLUSION: Clinical educators' training is crucial and valuable. Standardized training on pedagogy and other success strategies are warranted for successful clinical experiences.

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

BACKGROUND: Nursing education involves a number of stakeholders in the teaching and learning process, and these are student nurses, lecturers, clinical instructors and nurses. 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. However, there is scanty literature on the discourse of how these stakeholders conceptualise their roles to maximise student learning. The objective of this study was to explore the conceptions of stakeholders on their teaching and learning roles in nursing education. METHODS: Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with nursing students, lecturers, clinical educators at a Namibian nursing college and nurses at teaching hospitals. Phenomenographic data analysis approach was applied. RESULTS: Four conceptions were constructed that described the level of involvement of the different parties in teaching and learning. These were initiating, supporting, becoming part of and owning the teaching and learning role. Three dimensions of variation marked the differences among the conceptions: responsibility and accountability, priorities and level of collaboration. CONCLUSIONS: The parties involved in the teaching and learning in nursing education have qualitatively different understating of their roles and those of others. There is a pattern transcending from being at the periphery of teaching and learning to taking ownership of teaching and learning. And a movement from limited responsibility and collaboration to that of being responsible, accountable and high level of collaboration in the teaching and learning of nursing students. The conceptions in this study add more ways of enhancing collaboration between theoretical and clinical sites in nursing education, by ensuring that those involved are aware of their role and that of others and work collaboratively at the micro-level.

Nursing students' satisfaction with clinical placements: The contribution of role modeling, epistemic authority, and resilience-a cross- sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Clinical learning is an essential and irreplaceable component of nursing studies. Satisfaction with clinical placements may improve students' learning outcomes as well as their retention in nursing studies. Satisfaction with clinical placements has mostly been associated with environmental factors. The associations between students' satisfaction with clinical placement and students' resilience, clinical instructors' (CI) epistemic authority and perception as a role model have yet to be fully explored. OBJECTIVE: To explore the associations between students' satisfaction with clinical placement and resilience, as well as CI epistemic authority and perception as a role model. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design with a convenience sample of 131 Israeli nursing students in advanced years of studies, at a large university in central Israel. Data were collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Strong positive correlations were found between students' satisfaction with the clinical placement and their perception of the CI as an epistemic authority and as a role model. Additionally, strong positive correlations were also found between students' satisfaction with the clinical placements and the three sub-categories included in the perception of their CI as a role model (personal traits, clinical skills, and teaching skills). Resilience and CI's teaching skills explained 75.3% of students' satisfaction with their clinical placement. CONCLUSIONS: Nurse educators and CIs should be aware of their significant role in students' professional development and satisfaction with clinical placements. Special attention should be given to the refinement of clinical skills and teaching skills during CI training, along with deeper awareness of one's personal traits. CIs have the potential to be significant professional role models for their students, while enhancing students' resilience and promoting clinical competencies and quality care. These lead to higher student satisfaction and retention in studies as future nurses.

Concerns of Prelicensure Nursing Students Before a Maternal-Newborn Clinical Rotation.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the concerns of prelicensure nursing students before their clinical rotation in the maternal-newborn setting. DESIGN: Qualitative descriptive design with one open-ended survey question. SETTING/PROBLEM: A private U.S. Midwest master's entry prelicensure nursing program. Students' concerns before beginning a maternal-newborn clinical rotation have not been fully explored in the literature and may differ from those reported by students in other clinical rotations. If not addressed, these concerns could negatively affect the clinical learning experience and hinder student success. PARTICIPANTS: Prelicensure nursing students enrolled in the Nursing Care of Women and Newborns course at an urban graduate college of nursing. INTERVENTION/MEASUREMENTS: On the first day of the course, students were asked to write on an index card their most pressing concern related to their upcoming maternal-newborn rotation. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Course directors analyzed the responses for themes and further divided them by setting: labor and birth, newborn, postpartum, generalized (concerns across maternal-newborn clinical areas), and miscellaneous (nonclinical concerns). RESULTS: A total of 130 concerns were reported by 125 students. Of these concerns, 47% (n = 62) were related to labor and birth, and 4.6% (n = 6) were related to caring for newborns; 40% (n = 51) were general clinical concerns, and 8.5% (n = 11) were of a nonclinical nature. No students in this study expressed concern about being assigned to care for individuals on the postpartum unit. Although some concerns were similar to those reported previously in the literature, others were unique to the maternal-newborn setting. CONCLUSION: Prelicensure nursing students have concerns that are unique to the maternal-newborn setting. When student concerns are known before clinical rotations, course faculty, clinical instructors, and staff nurses can adapt strategies to reduce stress and improve the clinical learning environment for students so that they can be successful.

Clinical instructors' Motivational roles and perceived effect on absenteeism among student nurses in a tertiary hospital, Benin-City, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Absenteeism is a situation whereby students absence themselves from clinical posting without good reason, this incidence among student nurses contributed a significant problem that if not addressed will adversely affect the quality of nursing care; therefore, motivation of student during clinical posting found to be an important ingredient needed in eradicating absenteeism. Consequently, this study aims to determine the reasons why student nurses absenting themselves from clinical posting, its effect and how clinical instructor can motivate student nurses since they are the first role models and have a significant impact in their skill development. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive, quantitative design was used to elicit the information from a sample of 80 nurses and 80 students' nurses. Nurses: 25 medical surgical ward, 23 surgical ward, 17 obstetrics and gynecology ward, 15 theaters, and 80 student nurses, statistically drawn through a stratified sampling technique across the wards and school of nursing. Data collected were analyzed using tables, percentages, means, and standard deviation at 0.05 level of significance through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. RESULTS: The student participants reported that non conducive working environment, working in infectious ward without adequate protection, noncooperation from clinical instructor, excessive number of clinical hours, embarrassment faced in front of patients and other medical personnel, lack of prompt medical treatment and care when sick, too much workload, and other number of clinical assignments as a major reason why they absenting themselves from clinical posting. The effect of student absenteeism and how students can be motivated is identified in this study. CONCLUSION: Reported factors leading to absenteeism among nursing students and identified motivating care should be handled carefully by the hospital managers to produce better health-care delivery' nurses in future.

Identifying Teaching Methods Used by Clinical Instructors in Nuclear Medicine.

PURPOSE: To qualitatively address the teaching methods, effective pedagogy, feedback delivery, and perceived value of orientation workshops of nuclear medicine preceptors, also known as clinical instructors. METHODS: Open-ended interviews were conducted face-to-face and by email correspondence to collect data from 11 nuclear medicine clinical instructors in the southwestern United States. A case study method was used to obtain salient themes from the participants. RESULTS: Findings demonstrated that the most commonly used teaching styles were hands-on and observation. Participants described their self-perceived teaching skills as high quality, even though they had little or no formal teaching experience. Participants were not aware that students completed teaching evaluations, or they did not find value in the students' reviews. The participants perceived orientation workshops as a valuable option, identifying the following relevant topics: types of learners, communication skills, ethical situations, sensitivity training, and cultural competence. DISCUSSION: This study identified useful teaching methods, including feedback, to fill the existing gap in literature related to clinical instruction in nuclear medicine. Findings of this study indicate a need to better educate clinical instructors. One method for this is conducting orientation workshops that improve teaching method effectiveness, expand the educational experience of students, and strengthen the students' clinical skills. CONCLUSION: A process that encourages awareness and change is needed to develop instructors' teaching skills in a clinical setting. The absence of review or responses to student feedback through teacher evaluation scores should be at the forefront of change, regardless of the teaching method employed.

Relationship between nursing students' perceptions of clinical instructor caring and their professional behaviors.

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between nursing students' perceptions of clinical instructor caring and their professional behaviors. METHOD: This study used a descriptive and cross-sectional design. The data were analyzed with Pearson's correlation and Linear regression analyses. RESULTS: The professional behaviors of nursing students were found to increase their desire to become a nurse in the future with "instills confidence through caring" and "supportive learning climate" subscales but to decrease their desire to be an academician in the future. CONCLUSION: As students' perceptions of clinical instructor caring increased, their status of applying professional behaviors was found to increase, as well. PRACTICAL IMPLICATION: Descriptive characteristics and clinical instructor caring are related to high professional behaviors in nursing students.

The roles and experiences of preceptors in clinical teaching of undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in Malawi.

Introduction: Clinical teaching is essential for undergraduate nursing and midwifery students. Registered nurses/midwives trained as preceptors (an experienced nursing/midwifery professional who teaches, supervises and serves as a role model for a student), guide the students during clinical practices. Literature is scanty on the roles and experiences of the preceptors in Malawi. This study explored the roles and experiences of preceptors during clinical teaching of the students. Methods: A cross-sectional study utilising quantitative research design was conducted at four tertiary level hospitals; a mental hospital; one mission hospital and five district hospitals. A total of 87 preceptors completed a Clinical Preceptor Experience Evaluation Tool. Data were analysed using SPSS version 20 and descriptive statistics were computed. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc analysis were used to determine and test significant differences. Results: The study revealed that respondents were confident in performing their preceptor role; with good level of experience and education qualification of BSc in Nursing. ANOVA and post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicated that the role domain mean scores for the respondents with 4-5 years of post-registration experience (M = 6.61, SD = 0.36) was significantly different (p=0.02) with those with >9 years (M = 6.13, SD = 0.60). The results showed that respondents with 4 -5 years experience were more confident in their preceptorship role than those with >9 years. Conclusion: This study indicates the roles of preceptors in Malawi to involve facilitating students' clinical teaching and learning. It suggests that registered nurses/midwives with a BSc in Nursing are suitable preceptors to facilitate students' clinical teaching and learning. There is revelation that preceptors with more years of post-registration experience are less confident in their preceptorship role performance.

Nursing students' perceptions of and experiences coping with stress in clinical practice.

Objectives Clinical practice is a major component of nursing education wherein significant learning takes place. Nursing students experience stress in clinical practice which can have a negative impact on their learning. Guided by Lazarus and Folkman's theory of stress and coping, this study explored nursing students' perceptions of and experiences with coping with stress in clinical practice. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten undergraduate nursing students. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results The themes of: Learning about self, Knowing self, Value of social support, and Relationships with clinical instructors reflect participants' descriptions of coping with stress. Students cognitive and behavioral strategies, including reflection, help them understand their stress and decide how to reduce its effects. Conclusions Supportive and respectful relationships are essential for a student to learn and cope effectively with stressful situations. Implications for improving the clinical instructor's role to enhance students' coping with stress in clinical practice are discussed.

Sustained effects of faculty leadership development modules for clinical instructors of core competences education in Taiwan: a four-year explanatory case study.

BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core competencies (CC) in general medicine-based primary care are essential for junior medical trainees. In this country, a regular faculty development (FD) program aimed at training faculty in instructing (teaching and assessing) these CC had operated. However, leadership was not emphasized. In a new intervention module, the roles and associated responsibilities of clinical instructors to conduct, design, and lead CC-based education were emphasis. AIMS: This follow-up explanatory case study compares the effectiveness of intervention module with that of the previous regular module. METHODS: The regular group (n = 28) comprised clinical instructors who participated in the FD module during the 2013-2014 year while the intervention group (n = 28) was composed of 2015-2016 participants. Prior to the formal (hands-on) training, participants in the intervention group were asked to study the online materials of the regular module. These participants then received a 30-h hands-on training in conducting, designing, and leading skills. Finally, they prepared a 10-h reflective end-of-module presentation of their real-world practices. RESULTS: Following the training, a higher degree improvement in participants self-reported familiarity with CC education, self-confidence in their ability to deliver CC education and sustained involve CC education were noted among the intervention FD group, compared with the regular FD group. In the intervention group, senior academicians (associate and full professor) are more substantially involved in designing and leading CC-based courses than junior academicians (lecturers and assistant professors). Among non-teaching award winners of in the intervention FD group, the follow-up degree of sustained involvement in delivering, designing and leading CC-based courses was significantly higher than that of the regular group. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that leadership training in the intervention FD modules substantially motivated clinical instructors to become leaders in CC education.

The value of caring behavior and its impact on students' self-efficacy: Perceptions of undergraduate nursing students.

BACKGROUND: Clinical instructors are the key mediators in helping students conquer clinical experiences by preparing them for clinical workplaces. The caring behavior of instructors plays an important role in the instructor-student relationship. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (a) assess the perception of nursing students of clinical instructors' caring behavior and (b) explore the correlation between their perception of instructors' caring behavior and their self-efficacy. DESIGN: A quantitative descriptive correlation design was adopted. SETTING: The sample was collected from the faculty of nursing at a major governmental university for females in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of nursing students (N = 200) was recruited. METHODS: The data were collected using the inventory for nursing students' perceptions of instructor caring (NSPIC) and general self-efficacy (GSE) scale. Descriptive and inferential statistics, such as Pearson r correlation and regression analysis, were used. RESULTS: The total mean of NSPIC was moderate to high (mean = 3.06, SD = 1.04). The level of GSE among students was high (mean = 3.45, SD = 0.849). NSPIC is significantly correlated with its GSE (r = .282). In addition, GSE turned out to be a major indicator of caring behavior, with P = .021 and R2 = 0.642. CONCLUSION: Caring relationships between clinical instructors and nursing students enable students to grow as caring professionals. Therefore, nursing programs must have highly qualified clinical instructors to teach and train students and be a good role model in the workplace.

Nursing faculty teaching characteristics as perceived by nursing students: an integrative review.

AIMS: Nursing faculty members play a pivotal role in the achievement of nursing students' learning outcomes. A broader understanding of what constitutes effective teaching is essential in order to ensure that effective learning takes place in the clinical area. This review sought to identify the most and least effective nursing faculty characteristics as perceived by nursing students. METHODS: An integrative review of the literature was undertaken. Studies were sourced from the following electronic databases: PsycINFO, PubMed Central, CINAHL, Medline and Scopus. An electronic search of relevant studies published between 2001 and 2017 was conducted using the following search terms: 'nursing', 'students', 'nurse faculty', 'nurse tutor', 'nurse educator', 'effective', 'clinical education', 'effectiveness', 'clinical instructor', 'nurse instructor', 'teaching behaviour', and 'teaching characteristics'. FINDINGS: Twenty-nine articles met the inclusion criteria. This review revealed that nursing students value nursing faculty's competence and interpersonal skills over their personality traits. Furthermore, the review highlighted that there exists a lack of studies that examine individual factors, which may influence nursing students' choice of teaching behaviours. Future studies linking teaching behaviours and nursing student learning outcomes are recommended. CONCLUSION: Nursing faculty must strive to improve their professional competence and interpersonal skills in order to better provide quality education to nursing students.

The Turkish version of the Nursing Students' Perceptions of Instructor Caring Scale: An assessment of psychometric properties.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Nursing Students' Perceptions of Instructor Caring (NSPIC-Tr) Scale. DESIGN AND METHODS: Methodological study. The sample of this study consisted of 344 nursing students. FINDINGS: Its four-factor structure was confirmed with explanatory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results. The results of CFA showed that the scale's fit index supported the EFA. The scale's Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient had high reliability. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: NSPIC-Tr is a valid and reliable scale for the assessment of Turkish nursing students' perceptions of instructor caring.

Creating a culture of caring: A collaborative academic-practice approach to clinical education.

Strong academic and practice partnerships are needed in the ever-changing health care environment. Sometimes an invisible barrier exists between clinical practice and academia; academic-practice partnerships are a way to bridge this barrier. Since 2008a team-based model of clinical education known as the Culture of Caring (COC) has brought together three academic institutions with a large hospital system to develop a unified clinical experience and curriculum that improves the student, provider, and patient experience. In the COC model the team consists of academic-practice leaders, clinical instructors, staff nurses, and students. Together they engage in a structured curriculum that is integrated into both the clinical environment and the academic setting. Each week of clinical the students focus on a topic that is paired with journal articles and learning activities that allow the team to engage in learning that is applicable to the clinical practice environment. The learning activities allow students to engage in learning about evidence-based practice and quality improvement initiatives that are taking place on the unit. The implementation of this collaborative approach to a clinical nursing education model has had a positive impact on the working relationships between the academic partners and clinical practice leaders.

Characteristics of a critical care clinical placement programme affecting critical care nursing competency of baccalaureate nursing students: A structural equation modelling.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate and determine the characteristics of a critical care clinical placement programme affecting the critical care nursing competency of baccalaureate nursing students. BACKGROUND: The increase in global demand for competent critical care services and human resources translates to an educational focus in preparing students for their eventual role as critical care health professionals. Albeit clinical placement in critical care units can promote competency, evidence supporting such claim remains inadequate. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive correlational design. METHOD: Employing structural equation modelling, 236 randomly selected baccalaureate nursing students from a clinically intensive university in the Philippines were recruited from January-March 2016. A three-part online survey, composed of the robotfoto, Critical Care Nursing Rotation Evaluation Questionnaire, and Intensive and Critical Care Nursing Competence Scale, was completed. The STROBE checklist was followed in reporting this study. RESULTS: Five characteristics of clinical placement were extracted as follows: sufficient clinical exposure, adequate area orientation, supportive clinical instructor, diversified medical cases and supplemental learning resources. Four characteristics affected critical care nursing competency and built a good model (χ2 /df = 1.52; comparative fit index = 0.94; parsimonious normal fit index = 0.77; root mean square error of approximation = 0.047). Adequate area orientation had the most diverse influence on all competency domains, while supportive clinical instructor had the strongest positive influence on critical care nursing skill (ß = 0.30, p = 0.005). CONCLUSION: The model highlights the characteristics of a critical care clinical placement programme which influences critical care nursing competency among nursing students. It emphasised the importance of a supportive clinical instructor and adequate area orientation in promoting critical care nursing skills and values and attitude. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The proposed model highlights the role of clinical instructors and appropriate orientation which provides impetus in improving the clinical placement design to maximise competency development.

Effects of Continuing Education Incentives on Clinical Instructors.

PURPOSE: To research whether the ability to earn continuing education (CE) credit for time spent teaching motivates radiologic science professionals to teach students in clinic and to assess whether sonographers, who earn CE credit for time teaching, have more positive attitudes toward teaching than those in modalities who do not earn CE credit for time spent teaching. METHODS: Researchers developed a 2-track digital survey and delivered it electronically and on paper to clinical instructors working at hospitals affiliated with Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences programs at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Responses were collected for 2 weeks and then compared quantitatively using chi-square tests and logistic regression models. Qualitative results were examined for themes, and proportions among themes were reported. RESULTS: A total of 239 people responded, with 166 responses coming from individuals working in radiography, radiation therapy, nuclear medicine, and medical dosimetry, and 73 responses from sonography. Receiving CE credit did not result in a difference in teaching attitudes (x2 5 0.0004, DF 5 1, P 5 .985). However, the non-CE credit-earning population showed a 12% increase in positive attitudes if allowed to earn CE credit in the future (95% CI; 0.08, 0.17). DISCUSSION: Student learning and performance in clinic directly are related to experiencing a positive learning environment. Factors other than CE credit appear to motivate instructors to teach students. Although the results of this study did not support the hypotheses, this study furthers the need to discuss whether offering CE credit for clinic instruction is something the profession should consider. CONCLUSION: Clinical instructors who are willing to teach are the most desirable to students. Further evaluation of CE credit as an extrinsic motivating factor for clinical instructorship is important for providing the best positive learning environment for students.