Teaching methods in community health nursing clerkships: experiences of healthcare staff in Iran

PURPOSE: Healthcare staff educate nursing students during their clerkships at community health nursing programs. Their teaching methods play an important role in nursing students’ acquisition of competencies; however, these methods have not been studied thoroughly. Thus, this study aims to describe, interpret, and understand the experiences of healthcare staff’s teaching methods in clerkships at a community health nursing program. METHODS: This study was conducted using purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews with 13 members of the staff of three urban healthcare centers in Iran. The data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. RESULTS: Multiplicity of teaching was identified as the main category of teaching method, and the five subcategories were teaching through lecture, demonstration, doing, visits and field trips, and readiness. The most common method used by the healthcare staff was lecturing. CONCLUSION: The healthcare staff used multiple methods to teach students in the nursing clerkship of the community health program, which was the strength of the course. However, they should be familiar with, and utilize additional methods, such as discussion rather than lecture.