A Community Summit on Enhancing the Nursing Student Clinical Experience

Current educational economic constraints are challenging schools of nursing to meet the demand for more graduates who are prepared to practice in complex healthcare environments. Deans consistently report that expansion is limited by the availability of clinical sites. Hospitals continue to struggle to provide clinical site experiences for students, because partnering a nurse with a student has an impact on work productivity in an environment that is increasingly constrained by lower reimbursements and increased regulation. Hospitals have invested in expensive onboarding programs for new nursing graduates to enhance their ability to function in today's demanding environment. Even with these programs, turnover in the first 2 years of practice remains an issue and represents a significant loss on investment for hospitals. Many factors have been suggested as reasons: expectations of nursing graduates as to the complexity of the hospital nursing role, inadequate clinical preparation within a nursing program, and differing expectations of competencies for the new graduate.