Supporting student nurses learning in and through clinical practice: the role of the clinical guide.

Practice learning is an important part of the curriculum and accounts for approximately 50% of the pre-qualifying nursing programme in the United Kingdom. However, the nature of practice learning is very often ill defined, and mentors and nurse teachers apply a range of models to enhance learning in practice settings. Supporting students to learn is an important function for both educators and practitioners, yet there is little consensus in the literature as to what constitutes appropriate support and more importantly which methods promote deep learning. Mentorship is widely relied upon not just as a support mechanism for students but also as the main vehicle for the activities associated with learning, teaching and assessment of practice. Although in recent years nurse education in the UK has embraced mentorship alongside the development of the lecturer practitioner and more recently practice educator roles, other models may be worth further examination, especially those that more overtly enable students to learn through clinical practice encounters. The Clinical Guide is a concept developed by the University of Salford as part of a response to the Fitness for Practice report (UKCC 1999), which encourages Higher Education Institutions together with health care providers to develop partnerships to support students and deliver and monitor learning in practice. The following account outlines the role of the Clinical Guide in relation to pre-registration nursing students and highlights some general inadequacies of the mentor's role in developing deep learning in students in practice settings. It does acknowledge the part mentors have to play in the supporting students and relates to the research literature in this area.