Collaborative clinical facilitation in selected nursing and midwifery colleges in Northern Ghana

Background Collaborative clinical facilitation converges key players to guide students individually and within groups towards achieving clinical nursing competence. However, experiences of collaborative clinical facilitation among nurse educators, clinical preceptors and nursing and midwifery students are often fragmented and have been largely unexplored in Ghana.Aim To describe the experiences of collaborative clinical facilitation among nurse educators, clinical preceptors and final year nursing and midwifery students in Northern Ghana.Setting The study was conducted at two nursing and midwifery colleges and an academic hospital in Northern Ghana.Methods A qualitative, descriptive, exploratory design was utilized. Forty-six participants comprising 16 nurse educators, 10 clinical preceptors, 10 nursing students and 10 midwifery students were purposively sampled. Focus groups and in-depth interviews were used to gather data and analysed thematically.Results Three themes revealed facilitative experiences of collaborative clinical facilitation: team-based clinical mentorship and supervision, personalised preceptorship, and clinical conferences. Two themes emerged inhibitory to collaborative clinical facilitation: staff shortages and lack of timely communication.Conclusion This study found that team mentorship, preceptorship and conferences fostered collaborative clinical partnerships for students