What do nursing students think about long-term care? What do LTC homes do to welcome students and offer them a well-rounded placement experience that ensures that they meet their learning objectives and fall in love with the sector?
These are some of the questions that the Ontario CLRI at Bruyère team has been exploring for many years through different avenues.
The most recent stepping stone along the path of exploration came in the form of a rapid review of the literature, entitled: Evidence to support better clinical placements for nurses in long-term care: A rapid overview of reviews. Commissioned by a research team at St. Lawrence College led by Valerie Fiset, Ph.D., Associate Dean, School of Nursing, the authors of the rapid review described literature focused on nursing clinical placements in LTC settings. Authors of the review also drilled into a very specific area of the literature by combining critical keywords: nursing students (BScN or Practical Nursing) + LTC settings + any educational intervention, such as teaching strategies/activities or other work-study experience, that aimed to improve students’ experience and enhance their interest to work in geriatric care.
The review identified promising strategies for supporting students during their clinical placements. These strategies are related to orientation, effective supervision, and an increased curriculum focus on geriatric care. A close and dynamic partnership between nursing institutions and LTC organizations was highlighted as critical. These findings will support the research team as they develop surveys and conduct interviews with nursing students and the findings will also inform work at the Ontario CLRI at Bruyère.
The Ontario CLRI at Bruyère has been collaborating with St. Lawrence College since 2021 on the Nurturing Nursing Students in Long-Term Care (LTC) project. This mixed-methods study aims to develop an understanding of nursing student clinical placements in LTC homes in Eastern Ontario. The Rapid Review is one element of the project, and other elements of the environmental scan include consulting with clinical instructors and interviewing St. Lawrence nursing students. The project is scheduled to wrap up in December 2022 and will result in the creation of a novel model of clinical placements for the LTC sector
The Rapid Review was completed by Elizabeth Ghogomu, Sierra Dowling, and Vivian Welch of the Bruyère Rapid Review team (BERG), at the Bruyère Research Institute. Please connect with us by sending an email to info@clri-ltc.com if you want to receive a full copy of the report or to learn more about the Nurturing Nursing Students project or about previous Ontario CLRI activities related to understanding and enhancing nursing students’ experiences in LTC.