Mental Health Nurses' Views and Experiences of Working with Undergraduate Nursing Students

Journal article critique
“Mental health nurses' views and experiences of working with undergraduate nursing students: A
descriptive exploratory study” by Brown ML, Taylor P, Withington J, Lefebvre E published in 2018
in Nurse education today;64:161-165.
Introduction:
In the recent years, there has been a tremendous change in the healthcare delivery system.
This is due to several factors such as educated and well informed public, availability of vast sources
of information, increasing accountability for actions, and more focus on productivity and cost –
effective healthcare. This has led to remarkable increase in evidence based approach to healthcare
delivery in all aspects of medicine, including nursing care. This approach involves systematic
understanding of the available evidence and utilizing this information with the available biological,
pathophysiological and functional data in order to improve efficiency of patient care. Evidence based
practice in nursing care involves integration of clinical judgement with the available research
evidence. It also includes taking into consideration patient preference and thereby facilitate
informed decision making. This approach enables healthcare providers to utilize newer and efficient
healthcare management strategies and also to support certain existing management protocols
(Kitson, 2002). Critical thinking and critical reading of the different types of research articles are
crucial for development of clinical skills, knowledge based decision making and application of the
best available evidence in nursing practice. Nurses should be capable of utilizing the knowledge
gained from literature review effectively. This can be achieved by critical appraisal of research
articles to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the research evidence and to determine its
quality, applicability and whether the research evidence can be utilized in clinical practice.
(LoBiondo-Wood and Haber, 2014). Critical appraisal tools assist in evaluating the evidence for
validity, dependability and applicability to clinical nursing practice (Carnwell & Dally, 2001). The
different critiquing tools available are Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklists
quantitative and qualitative, Cochrane Risk of Bias Tools, Evidence-Based Process Quality
Assessment Guidelines, Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation,
Joanna Briggs Institute: Critical Appraisal Tools, Johns Hopkins Research Evidence Appraisal Tool,
Johns Hopkins Non-Research Evidence Appraisal Tool and Rapid Critical Appraisal Checklists for
nursing (Buccheri & Sharifi, 2017).
The journal article critiqued is titled: “Mental health nurses' views and experiences of
working with undergraduate nursing students: A descriptive exploratory study” by Brown ML, Taylor
P, Withington J, Lefebvre E published in 2018 in Nurse education today;64:161-165. The critiquing
tool used is Rapid Critical Appraisal Checklists for nursing. In this study the views and experiences of
registered nurses working with undergraduate students in mental health settings were evaluated
with the help of questionnaire. Registered nurses from one district health setting were the
participants and the response rate was 16%. A pilot study was undertaken at the beginning of the
study to evaluate the validity of the study. Appropriate statistical analytic tools were used to test the
significance of the results. The authors arrived at a conclusion that the participants of the study were
confident to undertake imparting clinical knowledge to the undergraduate nursing students.
However, the general opinion of the nurses was that this was an added work load on them which

added to the stress and pressure that they have to face in the clinical setting. It was recommended
that training in the form of clinical teaching and learning courses can help the registered nurses to
impart nursing education to students efficiently.
Critical appraisal of the paper:
Believability and background of the study: The study is about the views and experiences of
registered nurses working with undergraduate students in mental health settings. It is a descriptive
exploratory study determining the perception of the nurses about educating nursing students and
the impact on them.
The title of a research article is a very important part of the article to attract the attention of
the readers even before the actual article is read. A good title should highlight the most important
aspects of the study and should be self- explanatory. It should include the least possible number of
words, yet be comprehensive to describe the study adequately. The title of this study is a colonic
title, since it comprises of a colon separating the title into two parts (Cheng, 2012). The title is self-
explanatory, concise and provides a description of the study in 16 words. Separation of the title into
two parts provides more flexibility to this title to adequately describe the contents of the article. It
also includes words commonly searched in databases such as ‘mental’, ‘nurses’ views’, ‘descriptive
exploratory’ thereby making it easy to access this study by online database search.
Abstract of an article is the first part of the article which will be accessed by the reader. It
has to be such that it should make a positive impact and should interest the reader to access the full
text of the article. The length of an abstract should be limited to half or two- third of a page.
(Feldman, 2004). The abstract of this article gives a clear idea about the purpose of the study and
also describes the methodology, results and conclusions in a concise manner. The reader will be able
to evaluate the contents of the article by reading the abstract. Here, the abstract is also formatted in
such a way that attracts the reader’s attention and interest.
The study in this paper has been carried out by Brown ML.,Taylor P. and Withington J. from
School of Nursing, New Zealand and Lefebvre E. from Canterbury District Health Board, New
Zealand. This paper deals with undergraduate nursing students assisting registered nurses in mental
health set up. The authors have the required professional background for the topic in the research
article. Since the authors possess the necessary qualifications, the data in the research article can be
presumed to be accurate and authentic.
Research conducted by people with robust academic and professional background is more
reliable, authentic and precise. It provides the reader with the exact methodology used in the
research making it reproducible. Experienced researchers are capable of producing research articles
which are comprehensive and detailed precisely explaining the objective of the study, the methods
and materials or techniques utilized, and a complete description of the results and their implications.
They are also able to point out further action required in that particular topic and also discuss the
limitations of the study undertaken.
Robustness of the study:

Research Problem/ Purpose of the Study: It has been accepted that clinical placement during the
course of nursing education is mainstay for competent and skilled nursing practice. The
undergraduate nursing students acquire knowledge and skills from registered nurses working in that
area. The role of a preceptor is a competent, supportive experienced nurse who provides the nursing
student the guidance and assists in developing clinical practice skills. The student nurses will be able
to develop skills and competency only if there is a harmonious working environment in the clinical
settings. The purpose of study in this paper is to determine the views and experiences of registered
nurses in relation to clinical education and the factors affecting it.
In the paper, the research problem and purpose of study is clearly stated. Formulating a
research problem is the starting point of any research. It is vital for the research problem to be
clearly defined so that the exact methodology can be used to arrive at logical conclusions. (Leedy,
Ormrod and Johnson, 2010).
The importance of clinical placement for nursing students to acquire skills and knowledge is
well recognised. It facilitates development of competency in clinical practice (Hungerford et al.,
2019). It has also been shown to affect the career choices of the nursing students. Mental health
settings are not very popular career choices opted by undergraduate nursing students (Boardman,
Lawrence and Polacsek, 2018). Therefore, a more positive and conducive environment during the
clinical placements helps to attract the students to that field of health care after graduation. To
provide such a positive clinical placement experience will require the registered nurses or mentors
to work harmoniously with the nursing students to impart the necessary clinical skills and knowledge
(Jayasekara et al., 2018). It is also important to evaluate the views and constraints of the registered
nurses in this role. This study is therefore relevant for health care settings to identify how the views
of the registered nurses can impact the quality of nursing education.
Literature review:
The authors have carried out comprehensive literature review which is quite up to date with
references in the literature review upto the year 2013. The researchers’ conclusions about the
literature are justified. The conclusion of the literature review is that for nursing education in clinical
placements to be effective then the role of the registered nurses in supporting the nursing students
needs to be studied requiring research. Therefore, the authors have carried out their study in mental
health settings to evaluate the views and perceptions of the registered nurses in imparting clinical
education to nursing students.
Study aim:
The purpose of the study is clearly mentioned. This study is a descriptive exploratory study and the
terms of the study are clearly defined. This study is undertaken with the help of questionnaires
which have been adapted from Hallin and Danielson's 2000 Swedish questionnaire which are
designed to avoid any ambiguity.
Study design:
The theoretical framework has been described in this study. It aims to evaluate the impact of the
views of registered nurses in providing clinical education to nursing students who will in turn utilize
this knowledge and skills in their clinical practice in the future.