The Influence of Theory-Practice Gap on Knowledge Transfer at the Point of Clinical Placement

Abstract

This paper is based on data collected in a study undertaken among nurse students of a higher learning institution. The objective of the study was to examine the influence of theory-practice gap on nurse students' knowledge transfer at the point of clinical placement. This study investigates knowledge transfer following Minbaeva et al. (2003) definition of knowledge transfer as to acquire and use of the new knowledge. The interest in studying this area arose from the fact that clinical placement activities are exploratory in nature that knowledge transfer among nursing students at the point of clinical placement develop locally in accordance to the contextual influence. The findings of this study may contribute towards quality improvement in nursing education. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.