Development of an innovative tool to assess hospital learning environments

Nursing as a profession has evolved in response to societal needs for well-prepared practitioners who provide quality care to the needed in episodes of illness, and promote health among all age groups. Clinical practice enables the student to develop competencies in the application of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to clinical field situations. The clinical learning environment is a multidimensional entity with a complex social context. Previous research on clinical learning environment was examined, yet minimal studies have been conducted on hospital learning environments from the psychosocial educational perspective. With the mission to maximize nursing students' clinical learning experiences, the author developed and validated the Clinical Learning Environment Inventory (CLEI) based on the theoretical framework in psychosocial education. It is envisaged that this tool will assist the nurse professional to facilitate nursing students to achieve a productive clinical practice. This paper highlights the need and details the conceptual framework in the development of the CLEI. Although it is not presented as a research based paper, some statistical data are included to verify the reliability and validity of the newly-developed instrument. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.