qualitative study of nursing students' experiences of clinical practice

ABSTRACT

Nursing student' experiences of their clinical practice provide greater insight to develop an effective clinical teaching strategy in nursing education. To investigate nurses' experience of their clinical practice. Focus groups were used to obtain students' opinion about and experiences of their clinical practice. Ninety baccalaureate nursing students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences [Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery] were selected randomly from two hundred students and were arranged in 9 groups of ten students. Qualitative data analysis approaches were used to code, categorize and analyze focus group data. Four themes emerged from the focus group data. From the students' point of view, [initial clinical anxiety], [theory-practice gap], [clinical supervision], and [professional role] were considered as important factors in clinical experience. The result of this study showed that nursing students were not satisfied with the clinical component of their education. They experienced anxiety as a result of feeling incompetent and lacking professional nursing skills and knowledge to take care of various patients in the clinical setting: