Radiation Hazards, Protection, and Cultivating a Radiologically Safe Environment for Nurses

Background: Clinical education is one of the fundamental areas in developing the nursing profession. It allows nursing students to transform conceptual knowledge into psychomotor skills and apply them to patient care. However, students need to understand their responsibilities regarding clinical learning in order to acquire the expecxted practical skills. Objective: This study sought to assess Higher National Diploma (HND) nursing students’ knowledge on their responsibilities during clinical learning and challenges faced in health facililies in the Buea Health District (BHD). Methods: This study adopted a cross-sectional study design. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the study sites and enroll participants respectively. The study was conducted in four health facililies within the BHD, which had nursing students on internship. The participants were HND nursing students on internship, who gave their consent to participate in the study. Data was collected using a well-structured, self-administered questionnaire made up of both open and closed-ended questions. Data was collected on nursing students’ knowledge regarding their responsibilities during clinical learning and challenges faced. Data collected was coded, entered into an Excel 2010 spreadsheet and analysed using SPSS version 25.0. The Chi squared test was used to test for association between variables at 95% confidence interval. A p-value of less than or equal to 0.005 was deemed statistically significant. Results were presented using tables, charts and bar charts. Results: A total of 198 respondents participated in this study. Most [170 (85.9%)] of the participants were females and 120 (60.6%) were in the age range 18-25 years. The results showed that 146 (73.7%) students had adequate(good) knowledge on their responsibilities in the clinical setting and the difference was statistically significant with p< 0.001. Also, 139 (70 %) of the participants had adequate knowledge on their expectations on acquisition of skills. again, they faced challenges such as limited time management, limited hospital resources, and maltreatment from the nurses. Conclusion: A high proportion of HND nursing students had good knowledge on their responsibilities during internship. Majority of the students had adequate knowledge on the clinical skills expected to be acquired at each level. However, the HND nursing students faced challenges such as limited time, limited hospital resources and maltreatment from the nurses, which is a cause for concern.