Factors associated with nursing educators' instructional difficulties in teaching infusion-management skills and students' infusion-management implementation ability.

Objective: To examine the relationship between the difficulty of teaching infusion-management techniques during skills training and clinical practicum phases, the factors influencing this relationship, and the status of students' ability to implement infusion-management skills (implementation ability), as perceived by educators. Methods: Educators at three-year basic nursing education institutions nationwide were surveyed and their multiple-choice and open-ended responses to a web survey, which ran from May to September 2023, were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results: During the skills training phase, the difficulty of replicating infusion insertion was associated with the difficulty of teaching infusion-management skills acquisition, and the higher the instructional difficulty, the lower the students' implementation ability. In the clinical practicum stage, the lack of opportunities to practice infusion management, students' lack of knowledge of it and its necessity were associated with difficulties in teaching infusion management implementation. Additionally, the higher the difficulty of teaching, the lower the student's implementation ability (under supervision). Moreover, the difficulty of teaching during the skills training phase was also associated with the clinical practicum phase. These instructional difficulties were driven by the lack of reality of educational materials, restrictions on safety and ethical considerations, lack of human resources, and difficulty in coordinating with training facilities. Conclusion: Difficulties in reproducing educational materials, limited opportunities to implement infusion management, and students' lack of infusion-management knowledge and skills influenced the difficulty of teaching infusion-management techniques. From an educational perspective, developing educational materials with increased visibility and coordinating with training facilities could help mitigate these challenges.