Nursing Students' Practice Experience in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify the meaning and substantial nature of NICU practice among nursing students by applying a research method based on hermeneutic phenomenology in an attempt to lay a foundation for enhancing theoretical and practical child nursing education. METHODS: The participants were eight nursing student who had experience in clinical practicing in NICU. In-depth interviews were performed from April to December, 2014 until data were fully saturated. Collected data were analyzed using Colaizzi's method. RESULTS: Seven theme clusters were extracted from fourteen themes. The seven theme clusters of the nursing students' clinical practice experience in NICU were: 1) Excitement about the clinical practice setting 2) Afraid of practice environment 3) Babies have priority over clinical practice 4) Comparing with adult nursing clinical practice 5) Feeling pity for babies and their parents 6) New awareness about the role of nurses 7) Demands of enhancing clinical practice. CONCLUSION: The results of the study provide useful information in understanding nursing students' practice experience in NICU and establishing effective strategies to support these nursing students.