The clinical learning environment, supervision and future intention to work as a nurse in nursing students: a cross-sectional and descriptive study

Background Clinical practice is a core component of nurse education. It is believed that nursing students’ clinical placement experiences can affect their learning outcomes, satisfaction, as well as influence their choice of future career. To examine nursing students’ perception of clinical learning environment and mentoring in hospital where they perform their clinical placement and the connection of these factor with intention to work as a nurse once graduated. Methods Nursing students enrolled in clinical practice at least 6 months in hospitals in China were surveyed between January–March 2021. Percentages, frequencies, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and regression analysis were used to analyse the data. Results Of the five scales in the CLES+T, ‘Leadership style of the ward manager’ scored the highest mean while ‘Pedagogical atmosphere at the ward’ scored the lowest. Nursing students with lower educational level, those supervised by fixed preceptor, and those intent to be a nurse in the future were significantly more satisfied with the CLES+T. Most of the nursing students are intent to work as a nurse in the future. CLES+T total scores and sub-dimensions (Premises of nursing on the ward) have significantly effectiveness on the intention to be a nurse in the future. Conclusions Given the significant correlation of between learning environments and nursing students intention to be a nurse in the future, ward managers need to build a good clinical teaching atmosphere and promote opportunities for theoretical and practical connections among students through effective feedback mechanisms, which can enable students to experience a better clinical learning environment and meaningful experiences to build their professional roles and competencies, thus helping to enhance students’ willingness to pursue nursing careers in the future.