Structure of experience perceived and interpreted by students in clinical practice of rehabilitation nursing

Abstract

Objective: Characteristics of the experience of clinical practice perceived and interpreted by students were studied to evaluate the effects of on-site practicing. Methods: 390 experiences extracted by a qualitative inductive method from reports of clinical practice in rehabilitation nursing submitted by 5 third-year students of a nursing junior college were analyzed. Results: The experience of clinical practice perceived and interpreted by the students were classified into 44 sub-categories, which were further integrated according to the similarities of their meanings and contents into 5 core-categories: "Curiosity toward patients as people", "intention to understand patients and its confusion", "control of confusion and spontaneous support", "tentative support based on immature analytical thinking and search for its meaning", and "support based on analytical thinking and self-reflection". Conclusions: The experiences perceived and interpreted by the students indicated the development of their self-consciousness from people to students and to care providers associated with changes in their attitude to studying.