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Aims and Objectives: To describe the phenomenon of final assessment of the clinical practice of nursing students and to examine whether there were differences in assessments by the students and their teachers and mentors., Background: Final assessment of students in clinical practice during their education has great importance for ensuring that enough high-quality nursing students are trained, as assessment tasks affect what the nursing student learns during the clinical practice., Design: This study used descriptive, cross-sectional design., Methods: The population of this study comprised nursing students (n = 276) and their teachers (n = 108) in five universities of applied sciences in Finland as well as mentors (n = 225) who came from five partner hospitals. A questionnaire developed for this study contained questions about background variables as well as structured questions scored on a four-point scale, which also allowed the respondents to provide additional comments., Results: When comparing the results related to nursing teachers' presence in the final assessment situation, it was found that teachers and mentors evaluated this as being carried out more often than nursing students suggested. Nursing students noted that fair and consistent assessment is carried out more often than nursing teachers thought. Mentors and teachers said that honest and direct criteria-based final assessment was carried out more often than nursing students evaluated., Conclusions: Nursing students and mentors need support from educational institutions and from nursing teachers in order to ensure the completion of a relevant assessment process., Relevance to Clinical Practice: The findings of this study highlight an awareness of final assessment process. It is desirable to have a common understanding, for example, of how the assessment should be managed and what the assessment criteria are, as this will ensure a good quality process., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: To provide an overview of summative assessment of student nurses' practice currently in use., Design: Narrative review and synthesis of qualitative and quantitative studies., Data Sources: With the support of an information specialist, the data were collected from scientific databases which included CINAHL, PubMed, Medic, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane library and ERIC published from January 2000 to May 2014. Sources used in all of the included studies were also reviewed., Review Methods: 725 articles concerned with student nurse clinical practice assessment were identified. After inclusion and exclusion criteria, 23 articles were selected for critical review., Results: Findings suggest that the assessment process of student nurses' clinical practice lacks consistency. It is open to the subjective bias of the assessor, and the quality of assessment varies greatly. Student nurses' clinical assessment was divided into 3 themes: acts performed before final assessment, the actual final assessment situation and the acts after the final assessment situation. Mentors and students need teachers to provide them with an orientation to the assessment process and the paperwork. Terminology on evaluation forms is sometimes so difficult to grasp that the mentors did not understand what they mean. There is no consensus about written assignments' ability to describe the students' skills. Mentors have timing problems to ensure relevant assessment of student nurses. At the final interview students normally self-assess their performance; the mentor assesses by interview and by written assignments whether the student has achieved the criteria, and the role of the teacher is to support the mentor and the student in appropriate assessment. The variety of patient treatment environments in which student nurses perform their clinical practice periods is challenging also for the assessment of student nurses' expertise., Conclusions: Mentors want clinical practice to be a positive experience for student nurses and it might lead mentors to give higher grades than what student nurses in fact deserve. It is very rare that student nurses fail their clinical practice. If the student nurse does not achieve the clinical competencies they are allowed to have extra time in clinical areas until they will be assessed as competent. Further research needs to be carried out to have more knowledge about the final assessment in the end of clinical practice. Through further research it will be possible to have better methods for high quality assessment processes and feedback to student nurses. Quality in assessment improves patient safety., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Assessment received by students affects the way that they conduct their studies and shapes their interests in clinical placements. It is therefore important that mentors and teachers have high quality assessment strategies to ensure the competence of nursing students., Objectives: The objective of this study is to describe the views and experiences of nursing students, nursing teachers, and mentors on the final assessment of nursing students in clinical practice. The study also investigates respondents' views on using a standardized national or European scheme for clinical assessment in the future., Design: Descriptive survey design with a questionnaire., Settings: Implemented in five Finnish universities of applied sciences and in five partner hospitals., Participants: Nursing students (n=276), nursing teachers (n=108) and mentors (n=225)., Methods: A questionnaire was used to collect data. Survey data were analyzed by using SPSS version 19. Descriptive statistics and cross tabulations were used to characterize the data., Results: Nursing students felt that they had spent enough time with their mentors during their clinical practice period to ensure that the mentors could assess their behavior. Mentors also evaluated that they had spent enough time with the students. Students and mentors both indicated occasional difficulties with the language used in the competence assessment document. Most of the nursing students and mentors shared the view that it is always necessary for a teacher to be involved in the final assessment discussion., Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of assessment skills of mentors and the important role of the teachers. Findings from this study indicate that nursing students' clinical practice assessment already includes many good practices, but we still have some difficulties in ensuring effective measures of competence., (Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Health-care organizations have a key role in improving the quality of student mentorship in placements. This study presents the findings of Finnish and British mentors' conceptions of how to build organizational capacity for the provision of effective mentorship for pre-registration nursing students during placement learning. The data obtained from nine semistructured focus group interviews were analyzed using a phenomenographic approach. Three categories of description are presented. Organizations were mainly perceived as optimizers of investments in developing clear strategies for the provision of sufficient resources and professional support for mentors. The creation of a positive mentorship culture within a development-oriented, student-centred and goal-directive atmosphere was seen as essential. Furthermore, providing well-prepared placements for clinical practice of students was emerged as crucial, which included adequate working conditions and stakeholders as well as arrangements of learning opportunities. It is concluded that effective student mentorship requires health-care organizations to invest in financial and human resources in order to promote the quality of the placement learning environments. Such provision will enhance students' recruitment, retention and effectiveness, leading to safe practice and cost-benefits for health-care organizations in the longer term., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)

Aim and Objective: This systematic review describes mentoring of nursing students in clinical placements., Background: Mentoring in nursing has been widely investigated, but mentoring among students has remained vague. There is no universal agreement on student mentoring in nursing placements; therefore, mentoring approaches vary. A unified description of student mentoring is needed to ensure the quality of placement learning in nursing organisations., Design: Systematic review., Method: The data were collected from nursing research articles over 20 years (1986-2006). The articles (n = 23) were analysed using inductive content analysis., Results: Mentoring of nursing students in clinical placements was described according to two themes: (1) facilitating nursing students' learning by creating supportive learning environments and enabling students' individual learning processes, (2) strengthening students' professionalism by empowering the development of their professional attributes and identities and enhancing attainment of students' professional competence in nursing., Discussion: This description of student mentoring in nursing clinical placements integrates environmental, collegial, pedagogical and clinical attributes. To ensure effective student mentoring, an individual mutual relationship is important, but also essential is organisation and management to provide adequate resources and systematic preparation for mentors., Conclusions: The description of student mentoring needs to be systematically reviewed to reflect changes in nursing and education and compared within related concepts to achieve and maintain a workable description. A clear and systematic strategy for student mentoring in nursing organisations could be one opportunity to enhance recruitment of nursing students to the workforce., Relevance to Clinical Practice: A unified description of student mentoring will help improve the quality of placement learning opportunities and support for students, also for exchange students. A clear description of student mentoring enables the development of systematic provisions for mentoring of nursing students in placements and adequate mentor preparation programmes for nurses., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

The aim of this research was to describe an international student exchange programme as a context of learning intercultural competence in nursing. Twelve Finnish nursing students who had participated in an exchange programme in the United Kingdom participated. The data consisted of group interviews, learning documents, background questionnaires and research diary notes, and the method of inductive content analysis was used. Study abroad as a process of learning intercultural competence consisted of three ethno-categories: transition from one culture to another, adjustment to the difference and gaining intercultural sensitivity. The exchange programme as a context of learning intercultural competence was characterized by a problematic orientation phase, a study abroad phase that involved stressful but rewarding adjustment to the intercultural differences and an inadequate re-entry debriefing phase. In order for the international experience of nursing students to have an impact on their understanding of diversity, they need assistance in each phase of the programme. Particularly, the students need intercultural tutoring and mentoring to venture into encounters with local people, including direct client contacts, during their study abroad.

The aim of nursing students' operating room (OR) clinical practice is to gain experience of the perioperative nursing process and to develop skills related to the practice within OR teams in a variety of situations. However, it has previously been problematic to get enough practical experience within OR teams because of the general urgency, e.g. rapid turnover and flow of emergency cases, and preceptors' multiple responsibilities related to their simultaneous need to work as team members. This study describes how Finnish, British and American nursing students (n = 30) experienced learning about teamwork during their OR placement period. The critical incident technique was used for data collection, and data were analysed using a descriptive phenomenological method. Three types of teamwork emerged based on the students' perceptions: functional manifestation of OR teamwork, gaining OR team membership and technical orientation of OR teamwork. The findings are discussed in relation to OR practice, education and research on ways to improve teamwork while maintaining a satisfactory OR learning context and stimulating interest in perioperative nursing.

Background: Student exchange has been used increasingly in nursing education throughout Europe as a method of learning intercultural sensitivity. In the host country, each foreign student is assigned a personal tutor to enhance learning., Aim: The aim of this study was to describe tutor-student relationships between Finnish nurse teachers and British exchange students from the tutors' perspective., Ethical Issues: The researcher's close relationship with the study context and participants caused some ethical concerns, which will be discussed., Methods: The data consisted of tutorial session observations, research diary notes, group interviews and background questionnaires. They were analysed using Spradley's developmental research sequence method for ethnographic data., Findings: The tutoring relationship was pastoral and clinical rather than academic. The pastoral aspect of the relationship was essential in assisting the students to adjust to the stress of studying in a foreign country. On the other hand, tutors were unable to support all the students to overcome their culture shock. Tutors were uncertain about their role and did not integrate Finnish culture or practice into theory, but found their role pleasant., Conclusions: A dialogic tutor-student relationship is important for learning intercultural sensitivity. Tutoring strategies should be developed to assist students' adjustment to the differences in the host culture and to encourage their reflection on personal, experiential and scientific cultural knowledge during their study abroad.

The worldwide rapid social and economic changes also give challenges to health and social policies. Nowadays there is a need for integration of health and social services and self-managed work teams, which can improve the quality of services offered to clients. This is especially a challenge to nursing and social work education. One approach to respond to this challenge is to develop students' self-direction during training. Today self-direction is one of the central principles in adult learning, as one of its aims is to prepare students to manage changes in society. In this study, nursing (n = 68) and social work (n = 71) students' orientation towards their studies was investigated at the beginning of their professional education. The data were collected by a questionnaire developed for the study. The results suggest that, in general, both nursing and social work students are orientated actively towards their studies. However, nursing students were less willing to participate in planning their studies than were social work students. Moreover, nursing students were more teacher-directed than social work students.