The Effect of Supportive Clinical Environment on Satisfaction of Nursing Students in Internship Period

Clinical education is the basis of nursing education. In addition to the educational environment, a supportive environment may also help achieve the goals of internships and student's satisfaction with the acquisition of clinical skills. The present study was designed to determine the impact of a supportive clinical environment on nursing students' satisfaction.

This quasi-experimental study with post-test and control group was performed in Mashhad teaching hospitals in the academic year 2018-2019 with the participation of 60 nursing students who were randomly assigned to two equal intervention and control groups. For the students of the intervention group, the supportive clinical environment program, which included three components of knowledge, skills and learning context, was held for two weeks (50 hours). After the intervention, their satisfaction was measured with a clinical education satisfaction questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software and independent t-test and chi-square. The significance level was considered 0.05 in all tests.

The mean and standard deviation of the students age was in the intervention group (20.9 ± 0.8 years) and control (20.3 ± 1.1 years) (p=0.232). The result of independent t-test showed that after the intervention, the mean of the total satisfaction score of the students in the intervention group [85.4 ± 11.4] was 26.9% higher than the control group (67.3 ± 15.8) (p < 0.001). Also, the highest satisfaction score was related to the performance of the instructor in the intervention group and the lowest satisfaction score was related to the scope of dealing with the student in the control group (P <0.05).

Creating a supportive clinical environment enhances students' satisfaction, especially in the area of ​​instructor performance and dealing with students, and it is recommended to pay more attention to it in planning nursing clinical education.