title: Successful and unsuccessful clinical nursing students.
abstract: This study describes the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful clinical performance in prelicensure nursing students. Clinical evaluation is an important role of nurse educators; however, many feel uncomfortable with its subjective nature, and commonly used criteria for successful and unsuccessful clinical performance are not available in the literature. Using a qualitative descriptive design, we analyzed telephone interviews with 24 nurse educators. Educators indicated successful students were positive and eager to learn, built relationships, communicated well, think critically, prepared for the clinical experience and showed progress, accepted feedback, and adapted to the clinical setting. Unsuccessful students were unprepared for the clinical experience, were unable to function in the clinical area, were unsafe, violated legal-ethical principles, and had difficulty with communication skills. Specific characteristics differentiated students who are considered satisfactory in the clinical area and those who are not. These behaviors may identify students at risk of failure in clinical courses.
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, School of Nursing, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA. lplewall@uncg.edu
authors.forename: Lynne Porter
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lewallen
authors.forename: Jacqueline Kayler
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: DeBrew
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003142:Communication; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D061214:Patient Safety; D011231:Preceptorship; D013338:Students, Nursing; D013850:Thinking