PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE OF CLINICAL TEACHING CHARACTERISTICS FOR NURSE ANESTHESIA CLINICAL FACULTY (NURSING EDUCATION).
Contributors: Virginia Commonwealth University.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 194
Subjects: Health Sciences, Education.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This study examined the perceived importance of the 22 characteristics of effective clinical instructors as identified by Katz in 1982. The effect of various demographic variables on these perceived values of importance was also investigated.

Data were collected by means of a questionnaire survey instrument. A random sample of 354 nurse anesthesia program directors, CRNA clinical instructors and nurse anesthesia students from across the United States participated in this study. A 73 percent return rate was achieved.

Characteristic mean scores of importance demonstrate that respondents perceived all 22 characteristics as either "very important" or "highly important." When all 22 characteristic mean scores for each group were arranged in descending order by the researcher, no significant difference was found between groups. Chi-square tests were significant between the professional groups and the perceived values of importance for four of the characteristics: Evaluation/Counseling, Positive Role Model, Flexibility, and Timely Feedback. No significant relationships were found among the demographic variables and the perceived importance of the 22 characteristics. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the demographic variables accounted for only an extremely small percent of the variance.

In conclusion, since many of the mean scores were relatively close to each other, it seems reasonable to conclude that all four professional groups highly valued these characteristics and perceived them as critically important to clinical instruction. There was no significant difference in the way each professional group rank ordered the 22 characteristics. No previously reviewed study exhibited this same level of homogeneity among respondents. The researcher suggests that this homogeneity may be the result of previous clinical nursing experience and/or the nature of the anesthesia clinical environment itself.

Findings in this study have implications for the continuing education and evaluation of nurse anesthesia faculty along with possible impacts on employment decisions.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-03, Section: B, page: 1310.

Thesis (PH.D.)--VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY, 1993.

School code: 2383.