Abstract
This study determined the characteristics of ‘best’ and ‘worst’ clinical teachers as perceived by 63 baccalaureate nursing faculty and 121 BSN students in Ohio It is a replication of the 1987 study by Knox & Mogan The Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory (NCTEI) they developed is a 48‐item Likert scale checklist which describes discrete teacher characteristics clustered into five subscales or categories teaching ability, nursing competence, personality traits, interpersonal relationship and evaluation Respondents are asked to rate their ‘best’ clinical teacher using the NCTEI and then their ‘worst’ clinical teacher Results show that both faculty and students agree, in both Knox & Mogan's sample and this sample, that the ‘best’ clinical teachers are good role models, enjoy nursing, enjoy teaching and demonstrate clinical skills and judgement The ‘worst’ clinical teachers are not good role models The most critical distinguishing characteristics between the ‘best’ and the ‘worst’ clinical teachers are being a good role model and encouraging mutual respect