STUDENT EVALUATION OF CLINICAL EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT

Analysis of the narrative student comments to the two specific clinical environment
questions revealed that relatively few were too broad in nature to be helpful in determining the
adequacy of the clinical learning environment (i.e., great experience, good instructor, disliked the
unit). The majority of student comments (both positive and negative) directly reflected issues
addressed by the forced-choice portion of the SECEE Inventory, lending support to the validity
of inventory content. The frequencies of student comments that were broad in nature, the
comments that had already been addressed by items contained in the inventory, and comments
that raised issues which were not addressed by the forced-choice portion of the instrument are
noted in Table 15.
Student Narrative Responses Reflecting SECEE Item Content. Of the student responses
mirroring the forced-choice portion of the inventory about environmental conditions which
helped learning, there was not even distribution across issues or items. Three statements had
frequencies of 30 or more and two additional statements had frequencies of 19. Of the five most
frequent statements about positive aspects of the learning environment, two were related to
nursing staff providing learning support, two involved the availability of learning opportunities,
and one identified the benefit of independence and autonomy. The frequencies of student
comments about aspects of the clinical setting that helped learning, which were directly related
to SECEE items are listed in Table 16.
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