ABSTRACT

Most undergraduate Nursing students are unable to demonstrate high level of clinical competencies which may be as a result of the myriads of challenges that confront them in the clinical area. Nursing students' “satisfaction with clinical experiences” is one important criterion used for the evaluation of clinical practice in nursing education. The aim of this study is to assess the satisfaction level with clinical experiences among undergraduate nursing students in tertiary institutions in Ovia North East Local Government Area, Edo state. This study was based on a descriptive cross sectional survey and was conducted using a structured questionnaire on 407 nursing students. Convenient sampling was used and the method of data analysis was SPSS version 21.0. A reliability test was carried out using Cronbach’s alpha reliability test and the result gave the values of 0.79, 0.81 and 0.70 for the three objectives respectively. Findings revealed that 197(58.1%) of the respondents had poor satisfaction with clinical experience, 173(45.5%) were moderately satisfied while only 10(2.6%) were highly satisfied; the nursing undergraduates have a good attitude towards clinical posting (2.39); and the factors that influence clinical experience are preceptor factor (2.60) and clinical environment factor(2.64). In conclusion, nursing undergraduate students have low satisfaction with clinical experience and to some extent a good attitude towards clinical experience. Adequate and experienced clinical instructors, preceptors and staff nurses should be employed as they have a great impact on clinical experience.