Towards sustainable models for clinical education in nursing : an on-going conversation

This paper grew from a series of conversations about the challenges associated with clinical education for undergraduate nurses. In it we consider clinical education for undergraduate nurses within the current context of increasing resource and industry constraints. Beginning level clinical competence is the major aim of undergraduate nurse education, and therefore clinical education is central to nursing curricula. However, almost 20 years after the transfer of nurse education to the tertiary sector in New South Wales, Australia, concerns about the clinical learning opportunities in undergraduate nursing curricula continue to be raised. Many educational providers have adopted various permeations of the sessional clinical facilitator model. However, this model has inherent problems that threaten its sustainability and usefulness for undergraduate nurse education. We call upon the discipline to explore alternative pathways for undergraduate clinical education, and present sustainable options for future development in this area.