Clinical Practicum Assessment and the Lived Experience of Clinical Facilitators: An Ontological Exploration

Abstract

The clinical practicum experience is an essential adjunct to theoretical and clinical simulation learning in pre registration nursing curricula. This learning experience is crucial in ensuring that the knowledge and skills of nursing students are assessed as appropriate for clinical practice as Registered nurses. Observable variations in the manner and outcome of clinical practicum assessment exists in determining readiness. The literature reflects a lack of standard definition and pedagogy for such assessment, and even more so, an inadequate understanding of the Being of the Clinical Facilitator. A phenomenological study grounded in Heidegger’s ontology sought a humanistic understanding of the meaning behind observed inconsistencies in assessments conducted during clinical practicums by Clinical Facilitators employed within pre registration nursing programs in Australia. Through hermeneutic interpretation of semi structured interviews with eleven facilitators, a series of interpretive unveilings revealed that their temporal understanding of the ‘Being of a nurse’ and their heed to the call of conscience informed their unique and personal understanding of clinical practicum assessment. In the unveiling of existential freedom and choice, the Dasein of the Clinical Facilitator moves between the states of the ontic to the ontologically authentic Being, positioning itself according to its interpretation of its situation. This study reveals an opportunity to existentially support the wellbeing of these assessors. By listening to the to and fro and subtle cues of their understanding of freedom and choice, a vital element of existential support, facilitators’ candid disclosures can be pivotal in strengthening comprehensive clinical practicum assessments of nursing students as future Registered nurses.