One solution to the problem of providing instruction for medical students is to use nurses as clinical instructors for each of the required clinical clerkships. A study was conducted to evaluate the use of nurses as instructors in a school of medicine by studying students' perceptions of nurse instructors. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with 43 fourth-year medical students. Findings show that students think that nurse instructors fill gaps in knowledge by teaching basic concepts and provide a more comfortable learning environment than physician medical faculty. Nurses are perceived to bring clinical hands-on experience to the role, to offer support to students, and to bring organization to the clerkships. Overall, students view the role of nurse instructors as positive. Appendixes contain the interview protocol and the consent to participate in research. The research proposal introduces the study. (SLD)