Nursing Education and Clinical Conferences and Their Types In Clinical Learning Environment

What are Clinical Conferences In Nursing Education

    Clinical conferences are group learning
experiences that are an integral part of the clinical experience. The use of
clinical conferences in nursing is common. Conferences can provide meaningful
learning experiences and excellent opportunities for students to bridge the gap
between theory and practice. 

   Through conferences students can develop critical
thinking and clinical decision-making skills (Wink, 1995) and acquire
confidence in their ability to express themselves with clarity and logic.
Successful clinical conferences are planned. Plans for conferences should take
into consideration the curriculum and the learner. 

    An identification of the
purpose, topic, process, strategies, and methods of evaluation are essential if
the teacher is to be instrumental in bridging the gap between theory and
clinical practice. 

Types of Clinical Conferences In Nursing Education

    The
conferences can include traditional preclinical, midclinical, and postclinical
conferencing. As a result of advancing technology, conferences may take place
through electronic media and online. As such, the rules and regulations related
to HIPAA and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health
Act apply to clinical groups that use clinical conferencing by electronic
media. 

    Student groups must be aware of maintaining patient confidentiality as
the group presents patient data by electronic means. Using this form of
conferencing is a means of using technology while supporting the needs of
students. Some may be doing clinical assignments at different sites and
electronic conferencing brings students together where debriefing can occur
without having to travel to a central location.

Traditional Conferences

    Preclinical, mid clinical, and post clinical
conferences by nature are small group discussion periods that immediately
precede, occur during, or follow a clinical experience. Each provides
opportunities for discussion. In preclinical conferences, students share
information about upcoming experiences, ask questions, express concerns, and
seek clarification about plans for care. 

    Preclinical conferences also provide
opportunities for faculty to correct student misconceptions, identify problem
areas, assess student thinking, and identify student readiness to implement
care. Midclinical conferencing, in contrast to preclinical and postclinical
conferencing, is another form of gathering students together to provide some
form of midclinical debriefing. 

    It has been found that, while doing a 12-hour
clinical day, this gives students an opportunity to gather to share pertinent
patient information and plan for further interventions, which may include
patient teaching and discharge planning. This midclinical conference time also
may help students collectively evaluate the efficacy of prior patient
interventions. 

    This exchange of data, in the form of a midconference, is a
method of imparting knowledge and sharing common data with the intent of
positively affecting patient care. Postclinical conferences provide a forum in
which students and faculty can discuss the clinical experiences, share
information, analyze clinical situations, clarify relationships, identify
problems, ventilate feelings, and develop support systems. 

    In postclinical
conferences there is interaction between the teacher and the students, which
offers both a medium for learning and an exchange resulting in meaningful
experiences. 

Online Conferences

    Online conferencing, occurring before or after
clinical experiences, can assist students to come together in a virtual
environment to exchange ideas, solve problems, discuss alternatives, and
acquire information about issues of clinical care that occurred before or
during the clinical experience (Gaberson, Oermann, & Shellenberger, 2015). 

Student and Faculty Roles during Conferences

    Both students and faculty have specific roles
in conferences. Student should be made aware of their role as active
participants. As such, they should defend choices of care, clarify points of
view, explore alternatives, and practice decision making. A student may also
assume the role of group leader. 

    Faculty serve as conference facilitators by
supporting, encouraging, and sharing information; posing questions and asking
for alternative hypotheses; giving feedback; helping students identify
patterns; and guiding the debriefing process. 

    As conferences are facilitated,
efforts should be made to ask higher-level questions that assist students in
applying knowledge to clinical situations (Gaberson et al., 2015). Conferences
also provide opportunities for students to apply group processes and develop
team building skills.

Evaluating the Conferences

   Conferences should be evaluated in light
of their effectiveness and goal accomplishment. The teacher should obtain and
provide feedback regarding the extent to which goals were accomplished, the
effectiveness of the teaching methods or strategies, and the degree of learning
achieved. The data from the evaluation can be used for planning future
conferences.

    In summary, traditional and electronic conferences play a
significant role in facilitating students’ learning. Conferences afford
opportunities for enhancing critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and
decision-making skills; for creating new meaning for care issues; and for
enhancing group process and team-building skills. 

    Successful conferences are
planned. Inherent in planning are identifying the purpose, selecting topics,
selecting teaching methods, and conducting and evaluating these methods.