Shadowing in Early Baccalaureate Nursing Education and Its Influence on Professional Role Perspectives

Abstract

Nursing students often experience a discrepancy between their ideal views of nursing obtained while in school and the realities of practice. Using a phenomenological research design, sophomore-level students reflected on their perceptions of the professional nursing role before and after shadowing a nurse. Students' perceptions changed from a focus of the nurse as the primary caregiver in a hierarchy to a broader understanding of the complexity of nursing and what it means to care.