The Process of Clinical Teaching

Abstract

The reality of the clinical situation is its strength. It is easy to forget this when confronted by the imperfections which are also part of most clinical environments—the equipment which is lacking or broken, the crowding of patients into clinic waiting rooms, and so on. But no classroom discussion can convey to the student the joys and satisfactions of nursing as vividly and meaningfully as holding and feeding a sick baby, seeing the pride in the face of a new father, or easing a postoperative patient’s pain. One student worked day after day with an aphasic patient helping him learn to talk again. The day he spoke his first word, she said, with tears of happiness in her eyes, “He said his dog’s name, and I feel as though I’ve received a lovely present.”