Clinical supervision of midwifery students at the University Teaching Hospital school of nursing and midwifery in Lusaka,Zambia
Date
2017
Authors
Bweupe, Naomi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Clinical supervision plays a significant role in the acquisition of psychomotor skills by
student midwives during training leading to the provision of high quality midwifery
care. However, the acquisition of the psychomotor skills required for successful
practice and learning can only be acquired if student midwives are supported and
guided by clinical supervisors in their learning environments.The main objective was to
determine factors influencing clinical supervision of student midwives at UTH school
of midwifery in Lusaka district.
A sequential explanatory mixed method study design with both quantitative and
qualitative methods was used. The study population comprised 124 nurses and
midwives working in Lusaka urban district at University Teaching Hospital (UTH)
Women and Newborn Hospital, Lusaka College of Nursing and Midwifery and five
urban health facilities which included four (4) first level hospitals and one (1) health
center. A total of 14 student midwives participated in focus group discussions (FGDs).
Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from the nurses and
midwives and a FGD guide was used to guide discussions with the student midwives at
Lusaka College of Nursing and Midwifery. Three FGDs were conducted. Quantitative
data was entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22
for windows. Chi-square test was used to test associations among variables. The
confidence interval was set at 95% with a significance level of 0.05. Qualitative data
was analysed using content analysis. Themes and categories were classified by looking
for repeated ideas or patterns of thoughts.
The findings showed that a high percentage of clinical supervisors (89.5%) had not
been trained in clinical supervision, and most respondents had moderate knowledge on
clinical supervision of students. More than half of the respondents (63%, n=78)
exhibited inadequate supervision skills. The attitudes of all the supervisors towards
supervision were positive. A large percentage of respondents (73%) were competent in
clinical supervision. However, the learning environment was considered to be poor by
most respondents (61%). The study revealed a significant association between clinical
supervision and the respondents’ knowledge on clinical supervision (p-value of 0.00).
The current study showed that clinical supervisors were untrained and had inadequate
supervision skills and the learning environment was poor. There is need, therefore, to
train clinical supervisors and improve the students learning environment in order to
enhance teaching and learning. The study offers a valuable insight into the factors
influencing students’ midwives learning in clinical learning environment.
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Clinical supervision--Student midwivies--Zambia , Skills--Student midwivies--Zambia