M-Support: Keeping in Touch on Placement in Primary Health Care Settings (Report‪)‬

Introduction A major challenge for any school of nursing is the provision of appropriate and timely support from faculty staff for students during the off-site clinical components of their studies. The role of the clinical nursing lecturer is a vital complement to the work of the assigned clinical mentor in the clinical placement, bringing an education perspective to the student's clinical experience. This role is crucial if students are to feel supported during their clinical experience (Brown, Herd, Humphries & Paton, 2005; Koh, 2002). Another key responsibility associated with the role is to assist the student to integrate theory with practice (Barrett, 2007; Koh).