Exploring nursing students’ emotional experiences of patient cardiac arrest in the operating room: a descriptive phenomenological study

Abstract

Background: Witnessing cardiac arrest in the operating room presents significant emotional challenges for nursing students. As future healthcare providers, they must cultivate resilience while preserving empathy. Understanding their emotional responses during such critical events is essential to enhancing clinical education and developing effective psychological support systems. Aim: This study aimed to explore and describe the emotional experiences of nursing students who witnessed intraoperative cardiac arrest events, with the objective of informing educational and support strategies within high-stress clinical environments. Methods: A qualitative study using a descriptive phenomenological approach was conducted with fourteen final-year nursing students from Iran, purposively selected until data saturation. Participants had experienced at least one intraoperative cardiac arrest and were screened for mental well-being. Data were gathered through semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven-step method. Strategies to ensure trustworthiness included Lincoln and Guba’s criteria—credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability—as well as bracketing, member-checking, and expert review. Results: Seventy initial codes were extracted and organized into eleven sub-themes and four overarching themes: (1) Emotional Turmoil and Psychological Impact, (2) Professional Identity Formation, (3) Coping Mechanisms and Support Systems, and (4) Lessons for Clinical Practice. Conclusions: Intraoperative cardiac arrest elicits intense emotional reactions and identity-related struggles among nursing students. Incorporating structured debriefing, high-fidelity simulation with emotional components, and mentorship into clinical training could help transform these distressing experiences into valuable opportunities for resilience-building. Such interventions are critical for supporting students’ emotional development and improving the quality of patient care. Clinical trial number: Not applicable.