The lived experience of nurses working with student nurses in the acute care clinical environment

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to describe the lived experience of nurses’ who work with baccalaureate student nurses in the acute care clinical environment. Because of the nursing shortage nursing education is challenged with equipping a safe qualified workforce while preventing or reducing student attrition. Students may choose to leave the profession or receive less than optimal learning experiences when exposed to negative socialization behaviors of nurses while in the clinical environment. Findings from this study can be used to foster collaboration between nursing education and nursing service in the development of positive clinical environments for nurses and nursing students. The methodology used for data collection was one-time, in-depth semi-structured informal audio taped interviews of staff nurses who worked with student nurses in an acute clinical setting. Saturation of the data was determined after six interviews. Data analysis was conducted according to the modified van Kaam method. The following themes emerged: beliefs about nursing education, role expectations, communication structure, motivational factors, deterrent factors, and professional socialization attitudes. Findings from this study revealed that nursing education and service should establish more effective communication between staff nurses by providing them with job descriptions and role expectations while working with students. Staff nurses also need to be informed of the student’s learning objectives, and competencies. Staff nurses need to be empowered to change the clinical environment and resolve conflicts that may arise as a result of having students in their work environment. Most importantly the staff nurses need to be educated about their legal liability and responsibilities when working with students. Students should also be informed of their legal responsibility for nursing practice before attending a clinical course. Implications for research are to increase qualitative and quantitative studies on staff nurses who work with baccalaureate student nurses in all areas of clinical practice. Studies related to the nurses’ educational preparation and faculty perceptions of staff nurses working with students are needed. Future research is also needed on the effects that clinical practice models used in baccalaureate nursing education and collaborative educational reforms have on nurses, students, and faculty

The Lived Experience of Honduran and USA Nursing Students Working Together in a Study Abroad Program

Nursing study abroad is one approach to preparing student nurses to work more effectively in international environments as well as at home with culturally diverse clients. These programs foster self-reflection by permitting students to spend considerable time immersed in different cultures, thus exposing them to clients with different health beliefs and values. The authors of this transformational phenomenological study examined the lived experience of American and Honduran nursing students working collaboratively during a nursing study abroad program. One-time audio-recorded semi structured interviews were conducted to gather data from American and Honduran students. Six themes emerged: Communication (i.e., language and communication patterns), the cultural environment, and sharing/learning were common themes to both groups; among Hondurans, validation/empowerment and the nursing experience emerged as important themes, while transformation was the theme unique to American students. These findings support previous research regarding the importance of study abroad programs in the development of cultural competence, and suggest directions for nurse educators to prepare nurses who can function in an increasingly globalized health care environment. These findings also highlight the merits of this collaborative approach to nursing study abroad and they provide the foreign hosts’ unique perspective regarding their experiences working with American nursing students. The study results also indicate the need for further research on collaborative experiences with foreign and American health care partners and the perspective of the participants of other countries

The Lived Experience of Nurses Working with Student Nurses in the Clinical Environment

One response to the nursing shortage is to increase promotion and retention in nursing programs: However, negative attitudes of nurses threaten student progression and retention. A phenomenological study explored the lived experience of nurses who worked with student nurses to discover what attitudes nurses had toward student nurses and how negative attitudes were developed. One time semi-structured informal audio taped interviews were conducted with six nurses. Data analysis identified the emerging themes as professional socialization attitudes, beliefs about nursing education, role expectations, and motivational deterrent, and communication factors. Findings suggest collaborative strategies to reduce negative attitudes and promote positive, professional socialization behaviours of nurses toward student nurses in the clinical environment

The Lived Experience of Honduran and American Nursing Students

American and Honduran nursing students’ lived experiences in Honduras during a nursing study abroad program were examined using audio-recorded semi structured interviews. The findings provide the Hondurans’ unique perspective of this experience and support previous research on the role of these programs in developing cultural competence. The need for further research on collaborative experiences with foreign and American health care partners was highlighted, as well as the importance of addressing an increasingly globalized health care environment in nursing programs