Nursing students' and faculty's perceptions of the characteristics of 'best' and 'worst' clinical teachers: a replication study

This replication study described and compared the characteristics of 'best' and 'worst' clinical teachers as perceived by 185 Creek students of nursing and 31 clinical teachers. It is a replication of Mogan & Knox's (1987) study, which has also been replicated by Nehring (1990). The Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory (NCTEI) was used for data collection. This tool is a 48-item seven-point-scale checklist which describes discrete teacher characteristics grouped in five categories or subscales. Subjects were invited to rate their 'best' clinical teacher using the NCTEI, and then their 'worst' clinical teacher. Faculty's and students' perceptions agreed with most of the highest-rated characteristics of the 'best' clinical teachers. There was less agreement in the lowest-rated characteristics of the 'worst' teachers. There were not significant differences between the rating of students and faculty when categories of characteristics were compared, with the exception of the category 'interpersonal relationship' of the 'worst' teachers. The most distinguishing characteristics between 'best' and 'worst' clinical teachers for students and faculty in this study and in both Mogan & Knox's and Nehring's samples, were being a good role model and encouraging a climate of mutual respect.