Nurses’ experiences working with nursing students in a hospital: A phenomenological enquiry

Abstract

Objective: this paper explores the experiences of registered nurses working with Spanish nursing students within the hospital. Methods: a qualitative phenomenological approach was followed. Purposeful sampling was employed. Twenty-one registered nurses, from a public hospital located in Spain, were included in the study. Data were collected by means of unstructured and semistructured interviews and were analysed using Giorgi’s proposal. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research were followed. Results: three main themes described the experience of registered nurses: “The nurse’s relationship with nursing students”; most nurses emphasized the importance of the first contact with students and they considered students’ attitude to be key. “Defining the role of the student in clinical practice”; it is necessary to unify the nurse’s role and interventions to avoid misleading students and establish priorities in clinical practice. “Building bridges between clinical settings and the University”; the need to establish a common ground and connection between the university and hospital clinical settings was emphasized. Nurses felt that the training program should also be designed by the clinical settings themselves. Conclusions: understanding the meaning of nursing students with registered nurses might gain a deeper insight into their expectations.