Teaching Basic Nursing Care: Nurse Preceptors’ Perceptions about Changing the Teaching Context from the Clinical Setting to a School Simulation Lab

Abstract

Research demonstrates that basic nursing care receives less attention in clinical settings and has become visually less prominent in nursing education curriculums. While much is known about the importance of preceptorship in clinical settings, little is known about how preceptors teach basic nursing care to students in a school simulation lab. This study explores the preceptors’ perceptions of teaching basic nursing care to nursing students in the school simulation lab compared to clinical settings. Data were collected through focus group interviews and participant observation and analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. Three main categories emerged: (i) Perceived advantages and disadvantages, (ii) Positive attitudes – remembering being a student, and (iii) Knowing what to do and showing how to do it. Awareness of the importance of having knowledge about basic nursing care may contribute to counterbalancing the devaluation of basic nursing care among nursing students.