Clinical Adjunct Faculty's Experience of Preparedness in Teaching and Assessing Clinical Judgment: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover the perspectives of adjunct clinical faculty within undergraduate nursing programs regarding preparedness to assess clinical judgment among nursing students. The theory guiding this study was Kolb’s experiential learning theory, as it describes the process of gaining knowledge through experiences. Students within the clinical setting have the opportunity to develop clinical judgment through patient care experiences. This study utilized a transcendental phenomenological study design to examine the lived experiences of adjunct clinical faculty instructing prelicensure nursing students. The study examined factors including how faculty view their role in clinical judgment development and how they teach and assess clinical judgment. Furthermore, the study examined their perspective of factors that assist or deter from this role. The study was performed within a large school of nursing within the southeastern United States and recruited adjunct clinical faculty who instruct a group of prelicensure nursing students in the hospital setting. The study gathered data through participant interviews, clinical document analysis, and post-conference journaling. Data were analyzed for significant statements and grouped into themes. The themes discovered included: Viewing Their Role as a Facilitator for Students; Assessing Clinical Judgment in Students; Developing Clinical Judgment in Students; Utilizing Personal Experiences and Ideas; and Factors That Impact the Instructor Role. Findings allow for targeted training, support, and mentoring for faculty, while future research should focus on training with the specific clinical judgment models.