Perceived challenges of nurse educators while teaching undergraduate nursing students in Pakistan: An exploratory mixed-methods study

Abstract Background Nurse educators are required to equip students with adequate theoretical and practical knowledge to provide effective nursing care. Limited studies have explored educators' challenges while teaching students. Existing studies are limited because of small sample, overreliance on qualitative approaches, and unreliable instruments that have not been tested. Objectives To explore nurse educators' perspectives about their clinical and academic teaching, to develop a questionnaire to determine educators' challenges, and to develop a comprehensive understanding of educators' challenges. Design A sequential exploratory mixed-methods study. Settings Twelve nursing institutions in five cities of Pakistan. Participants A purposive sample of 12 educators for interviews and 112 for the survey. Methods Semi-structured interviews and survey for data collection and expert consultations for questionnaire development. Thematic analysis for qualitative analysis, descriptive analysis for quantitative, and joint display tables for mixed methods. Results Educators experience workload and time constraints and struggle to effectively teach students due to inadequate student-educator ratio; underdeveloped curriculum; inadequate resources; inadequate clinical teaching settings for skills, simulation labs; inadequate professional development opportunities; lack of autonomous decision making; lack of educational, management, and research support from the regulatory bodies; and lack of educational research. Conclusions Nurse educators' issues and challenges are persistent and require support from regulatory bodies and educational authorities. There is a need to develop policies to improve teaching and learning conditions for educators, provide them with the opportunities to enhance their own learning, and opportunities to collaborate with other educators in order to better prepare student nurses.