An Examination of Nurse Educators’ Experiences with Clinically Failing Students

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ABSTRACT This research describes the experience of nursing educators who have assigned an earned falling clinical grade to nursing students. The fundamental activity of the nursing educator in the clinical setting is clinical teaching or clinical instruction. The nursing educator guides, encourages, facilitates learning, and ultimately evaluates a nursing student’s clinical performance. Clinical evaluations are one of the most challenging aspects of being a clinical nursing educator. Using a case study construct guided by the Self Determination Theory, seven nursing educators were interviewed to examine their personal experiences that surrounded the process. Three questions drove the research: 1. What is the lived experience of nursing educators who have administered an earned clinical failing grade to a nursing student(s) in an associate degree nursing program? 2. What motivated these nurse educators to assign a deserved failing clinical grade? 3. What is the personal impact on the nursing faculty when they experience a clinically failing student? The data was entered into the Atlas Ti8 software and three major themes were identified: the role of nursing educators, criteria used in clinical grading and challenges faced in grading students. One anticipated theme that did not emerge was that of assigning blame on previous educators. This research did reinforce and identify the need for support and guidance when assigning an earned failing clinical grade.

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