Hospital based clinical supervision: Experiences and attitudes of student nurses in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Clinical supervision is a valuable tool in achieving quality clinical education. It assists students to attain learning objectives, apply theory into practice and to become responsible and competent practitioners. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of student nurses regarding hospital-based clinical supervision in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study was done in seven hospitals in two districts of Limpopo province, namely, Vhembe and Mopani. The study followed a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive research design. The population of the study was student nurses allocated at training hospitals in Mopani and Vhembe Districts. Purposive sampling method was used to select hospitals and student nurses. Focus group interview was used for data collection, data analysis was guided by Tesch’s approach. Student nurses had both positive and negative experiences related to hospital based clinical supervision. Time constraints, negative attitudes, lack of knowledge and lack of interest of clinical supervisors were some of the negative experiences revealed by student nurses. However, it was revealed that some supervisors were knowledgeable and seemed to be interested in clinical supervision. Clinical supervision is an essential component of nursing training. Clinical supervisors should be trained on their essential supervisory role in hospitals. Acquiring knowledge, skills, and availability of supervision guidelines in the clinical learning environment may change the attitudes of clinical supervisors towards supervision.