Student nurses’ views of their clinical training – A qualitative study

Clinical training in nursing is fundamental because it transforms the theoretical knowledge of student nurses into clinical skills and practice. In addition, clinical training promotes the development of students’ critical thinking, psychomotor skills as well as patterns of professional contact for patients care. Aim of this qualitative study was to explore student nurses’ views of their clinical training. Material and method: Focus groups of 40 student nurses were held to explore their views on their clinical training and studying in a nursing school of a Technological Educational Institute. The participants were divided into four groups of ten students in order to facilitate the focus group interviews. The qualitative data derived from the interviews, was analyzed using thematic categories and coding. Results: From data analysis of the focus group interviews, five thematic categories emerged. In accordance with student nurses’ views in this study “stress and clinical learning environment” “theory practice gap”, “the role of lecturer practitioner - assessor”, “the lack of opportunities for critical thinking development”, “the search of professional patterns from staff and lectures”, were identified as the thematic categories. Conclusions: The results of the study indicated that student nurses were not particularly satisfied with the quality of their clinical training. In addition, it is apparent that the necessity to foster the role of lecturer practitioners, which they need specialized education on providing clinical training to student nurses, aiming to establish professional patterns to them.

Keywords: Student nurses, clinical training, lecturer practitioner