Enhancing nurses' capacity to facilitate learning in nursing students: effective dissemination and uptake of best practice guidelines

Abstract

The preparation of nursing students for the real world of practice is a significant contemporary issue for health care and education institutions globally. Positive learning experiences are enabled through positive role models and attitudes which impact on ward culture. Although these best practices have been described, they have not been assimilated into the health-care system as the uptake of evidence is fraught with difficulties. Using the problem-solving approach of fitting evidence into practice--Read, Think, Do, this paper describes practical activities throughout the process to assimilate evidence. In particular, it details effective strategies that take into account the clinical context, such as displaying posters, demonstration of problem resolution in small group sessions and role modelling, and a presence in the clinical area. All of these contribute to the uptake of the guidelines to improve student experiences within the clinical setting.