The aim was to investigate student nurses' experiences of the clinical learning environment in relation to how the supervision was organized.
The clinical environment plays an essential part in student nurses' learning. Even though different models for supervision have been previously set forth, it has been stressed that there is a need both of further empirical studies on the role of preceptorship in undergraduate nursing education and of studies comparing different models.
A cross-sectional study with comparative design was carried out with a mixed method approach. Data were collected from student nurses in the final term of the nursing programme at three universities in Sweden by means of a questionnaire.
In general the students had positive experiences of the clinical learning environment with respect to pedagogical atmosphere, leadership style of the ward manager, premises of nursing, supervisory relationship, and role of the nurse preceptor and nurse teacher. However, there were significant differences in their ratings of the supervisory relationship (p