Perceptions and satisfaction with the quality of clinical training placements among nursing and midwifery students in Northern Ghana.

Background: Clinical teaching and learning empower students to translate classroom learning into patient care, facilitating their evolution into competent nurses and midwives. Developing competent nurses is crucial for enhancing the quality of the healthcare system, necessitating quality nursing education to equip them with the required knowledge and skills. The quality of clinical placements significantly influences how students acquire skills, knowledge, and clinical reasoning, as well as how they develop as professional nurses and midwives. However, significant research gaps exist in assessing the quality of clinical placements among student nurses and midwives in Northern Ghana.

Aim: The current study aimed to evaluate the perceptions and satisfaction levels of student nurses and midwives regarding the quality of clinical training placements in Northern Ghana.

Methods: The study adopted a multi-center, descriptive cross-sectional design. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Proportionate sampling was used to determine the number of respondents per institution. Respondents were selected to participate in the study using a simple random sampling technique. Data were analysed using SPSS Statistics Version 27. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the results in frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Hypothetical relationships between students' perceptions of clinical training quality, satisfaction, and demographics were tested using One-way ANOVA, t-tests, and Pearson correlation. Tukey LSD post hoc analysis assessed pairwise differences, and statistical significance was pegged at P < 0.05.

Results: Overall, students had a good perception (M = 4.01, SD = 0.87) and satisfaction (M = 6.93, SD = 1.94) with their clinical training placement quality. The majority of respondents (92.2%) strongly agreed or agreed with the statement "This placement was a good learning environment", whereas 72.0% strongly agreed or agreed with the statement "I received regular and constructive feedback". Both One-way ANOVA and the independent sample t-test indicated that diploma level (p = 0.008) and the educational institution attended (p < 0.001) had a significant impact on how students perceived the quality of their clinical training placement. Also, there was a significant positive correlation between perceptions of the quality of clinical training placement and satisfaction with clinical training placement among the students (r = 0.65, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Students generally had good perceptions of their clinical placements and were moderately satisfied with their clinical training placements. However, there are also clear differences in the quality of clinical placements amongst the educational institutions in Northern Ghana. Clinical placement settings and academic institutions should collaborate to examine and develop specific teaching methods, supervision approaches, and learning frameworks that can improve clinical learning and teaching among students.

Trial Registration: This is not applicable.

No Patient Or Public Contribution: No patients or members of the public were involved in setting the research objectives, designing the study, analyzing or interpreting the data, or preparing the manuscript. Nursing and midwifery students from five colleges in Ghana's Northern, Savannah, and Northeast regions answered the research questionnaire.