The relationship of theory-practice gap to students’satisfaction and performance in the clinical setting

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Hala Mohamed Mohamed Bayoumy

King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, KSA

: Androl Gynecol: Curr Res

Abstract

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Nursing students expected to provide safe, effective, evidence-based nursing during clinical training in healthcare sites. Nursing education programs incorporates theory with practice. Accordingly, the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that developed in the theoretical part of the curriculum should be practiced in the clinical setting to better prepare nursing students for their future work. However, in nursing field there is often a gap between theory learned in the nursing program and its application in the clinical setting. In addition, the relationship between the theorypractice gap to students' satisfaction and performance was rarely studied among nursing students in Saudi Arabia. Using cross-sectional correlational design, this study provides information about the perceived theory practicegap and its effect on student's satisfaction and performance in clinical setting. A questionnaire was developed after extensive review of literature for the study purpose. The sample consisted of 131 female nursing students who had enrolled on least one clinical course at King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Science-Jeddah. Respondents reported that the theory practice gap confuse them, make them less confident. Teaching strategies that respondents experienced in class included with problem solving activities, scenarios 67.9%, case studies 66.5%, small group activities 61.9% and formal lecture 61%. Respondents expressed a need to develop more of the cognitive abilities to enhance theory-practice integration. 32.1% identified heavy workload of ward staff as the most common reason explaining why ward procedures not performed as taught in the school. It is recommended that the interventions should be developed that support and strengthen student’s efforts in integrating theory to practice and monitoring systems should be in place to identify possible gaps between the theory development and application in practice.

Biography

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Hala Mohamed Mohamed Bayoumy was an Assistant Professor of Nursing in the College of Nursing Jeddah, King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences; National Guard Health Affairs, Saudi Arabia in 2008. He has completed his DSc in the Faculty of Nursing at Cairo University with scholarship of joint supervision with Case Western Reserve University, Frances Bayne Bolton School of Nursing, USA in 2004; MSc from Faculty of Nursing at Cairo University in 1998 and BSc in the Faculty of Nursing at Cairo University in 1992. He has extensive knowledge of research methodologies and statistical packages (SPSS and Structural Equation Modeling programs). He is an Editorial Board Member for International Journal of Nursing & Clinical Practices. He is the Special Issue Editor of “Self Care Skills and Quality of Life of Patients” which was published under the International Journal of Nursing & Clinical Practices. He is a Reviewer for multiple journals published under Dove Publications: Advances in Medical Education and Practice and Journal of Healthcare Leadership.