Teacher-Student Relationships

Abstract

The relationship between student and teacher should be one which fosters learning and the provision of skilled nursing care. Clinical teaching adds another dimension to this relationship in that the student and teacher become, in many ways, junior and senior partners in caring for patients. Both satisfactions and responsibilities are involved in this relationship. There is, for example, the rewarding opportunity for the teacher to share the student’s fresh insights, questions, and enthusiasm. The teacher must also, however, accept responsibility for accurately assessing the student’s requirements for instruction and supervision, and for dealing with embarrassing or sometimes hazardous situations resulting from the student’s uneven performance and inexperience. The instructor shares in the results of the student’s performance, sometimes with pride and sometimes with disappointment. A test of this relationship occurs when the student’s actions lead to an undesired outcome. The teacher must then assist the student to do what is necessary to rectify the consequences of her action and to prevent recurrence of similar incidents. This must be done in a way which provides support for the student without condoning her mistake, or de-emphasizing its seriousness, and without undermining the student’s confidence in her own ability. The teacher must convey to the staff her concern and her sense of responsibility about the incident, without implying a lack of confidence in the student’s over-all ability.