Models of clinical nursing education Evolution and effects on nursing students’ learning

The aim of this article is to present through a literature review the models of clinical nursing education, their evolution and their effects on nursing students’ learning. In the first schools of nursing established in the middle of the 19th century, students learned within the “apprenticeship” system under the supervision of the ward sister who was responsible for them. Soon the need for more and better-educated nurses resulted in further development of nursing schools and teachers of the academic institution undertook the clinical teaching role. The problems of this model, with most important the clinical teachers’ difficulty to integrate students in the clinical nursing team, and to socialize them in the nursing role, resulted in search for other models. Within these models clinical nursing education is undertaken by a clinical nurse who also has responsibility for the care of the patients. Research findings suggest that this model is effective in nursing students’ socialization and learning. A third category of models is called synergistic and they are a synthesis of the two previously mentioned ones. It is argued that each model has strong and weak points and their success depend on the professionals themselves and their interest for nursing and nursing education.