Nursing students' and tutors' perceptions of learning and teaching in a clinical skills centre.
BACKGROUND
Clinical Skills Centres (CSCs) can ease pressure on clinical skills development and assessment in clinical areas; and provide added value through experiential learning and self-directed learning. Published accounts of innovation in CSCs tell part of this story but little is known about perceptions of students and tutors engaged in day-to-day learning and teaching in CSCs.


METHODS
This paper reports one strand of a mixed methods study in a busy multidisciplinary CSC: a questionnaire survey of nursing students' and tutors' perceptions of learning and teaching. Questionnaires focused on items representing commonly espoused views regarding the use and usefulness of CSCs.


RESULTS
Students and tutors enjoyed learning and teaching within the CSC, although senior students were slightly muted in their views. All groups valued the supported practice of clinical and communication skills. The CSC was seen as a learning environment that supports the linking of theory and practice. There was some ambivalence, particularly among tutors, about the relationship between performance in the CSC and in clinical areas.


CONCLUSIONS
The favoured pedagogic approach of expert demonstration by tutors followed by supported practice necessitates attention to tutors' training. The muted responses of senior students may signal a need to review the CSC learning experiences offered to them.
Freeth
Della
D
Reader in Education for Health Care Practice, St. Bartholomew School of Nursing and Midwifery, City University, London, UK. d.s.freeth@city.ac.uk
Fry
Heather
H
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003142:Communication; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000592:standards*; D005181:Faculty, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007858:Learning; D008131:London; D008348:Manikins; D020380:Needs Assessment; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000592:standards; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011380:Programmed Instructions as Topic / Q000592:standards; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012647:Self-Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000592:standards*