Nurse educators’ views on online clinical teaching : insights from South Africa’s public nursing colleges

Abstract

INTRODUCTION : Nursing education institutions have an obligation to create learning platforms to ensure that students are exposed to learning experiences enhancing their confidence and skill as qualified professionals. Challenges negatively influencing the education and training of nursing students include inadequate resources, nurse educator-student ratio, clinical placement, and occurrence of uncommon medical conditions. Online-based activities provide an alternative platform to lessen the challenges in clinical teaching. METHODS : A qualitative, explorative, and descriptive design was adopted. Data was collected through three focus group interviews from fifteen (n = 15) nurse educators and analyzed using thematic content analysis. FINDINGS : The analysis revealed two main themes: (a) Teaching convenience associated with the use of online activities and (b) Availability of capital resources. The findings revealed that online clinical activities provided substantial teaching convenience by enhancing flexibility and efficiency in clinical instruction. However, the implementation of these activities was hindered by critical challenges, particularly the limited availability of capital resources such as reliable internet connectivity and appropriate technological tools. DISCUSSION : Views of nurse educators sought to assist nursing education institutions to plan on measures for preventing challenges that can negatively affect effective use of online platform for clinical teaching. Nurse educators considered online activities as an innovative platform that can enhance clinical teaching and contribute positively to clinical learning experiences, although careful consideration must be given to the nature of the nursing discipline. CONCLUSION : While online clinical activities enhance teaching convenience in clinical education, addressing resource limitations is essential for their successful integration in public nursing colleges.