Quality of clinical education – Comparison of experiences of undergraduate student nurses in Finland and Sweden

The purpose of this study was to compare the experiences of three groups of undergraduate student nurses on the quality of clinical education over time. The study is part of a longitudinal research and development project in Finland and Sweden.The sample (n = 109) consisted of three subgroups of student nurses: the first in a Swedish faculty (SWE) (n = 53), the second in a Finnish faculty (FIN1, n = 42), and the third in another Finnish faculty (FIN2, n = 14). In the comparison of the subgroups, FIN1 and FIN2 were put together, because of the small sample size. The first data was collected in 2009 after the students' first clinical education period in acute and elderly care. The second data was collected in 2010 after the students' second clinical education period on different wards in central hospitals, in primary care units and in elderly care.The data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using statistical methods. On the basis of an explorative factor analysis conducted on the first data four sum variables were produced, named as follows: Clinical Preception, Learning in Clinical Education, Learning Objectives in Clinical Education, and Reflection in Clinical Education.In the comparison of the years 2009 and 2010 (n = 109), the factors Clinical Preception and Learning Objectives in Clinical Education had lower evaluations in year 2010 than in year 2009. In year 2009 Swedish students (n = 53) evaluated Clinical Preception and Learning in Clinical Education lower than Finnish students (n = 56). In year 2010 Finnish students evaluated Clinical Preception lower than Swedish students.It is evident that the clinical education practices should be developed in cooperation with the faculties and the staff of the clinical education placements.