Sammendrag
Aim: To explore first-year student nurses’ lived experience of learning in clinical place-ment in nursing homes.Background: Nursing homes traditionally represent students’ first clinical placement sites during nurse education, and nursing home residents’ care needs can provide op-portunities for student nurses to acquire both fundamental and specialised nursing skills. In clinical placements, students have opportunities to apply and integrate theo-retical knowledge, practical skills and ethical competence in a clinical setting.Design: A qualitative design with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach was em-ployed and reported in accordance with the COREQ guidelines.Methods: The study was undertaken at three nursing homes affiliated with one Norwegian university. Close observation (173 h) and in-depth individual interviews (n= 7) with first-year student nurses were conducted to explore their lived experience of learning. Data analysis was guided by van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach.Results: The essential meaning of the phenomenon of learning in clinical placements in a nursing home setting is characterised by four themes: (1) navigating a new and com-plex learning context, (2) being emotionally affected when facing sickness and frailty, (3) having a vital need for support and guidance and (4) being engaged in learning.Conclusions: The findings are discussed against the backdrop of educational learning theory. Learning in clinical placements in nursing homes is a multi-faceted and com-plex phenomenon related to the students’ lived experience on the contextual, rela-tional and individual levels. Overall, our findings demonstrate that learning in clinical placements is part of the process of professional identity development.Relevance to clinical practice: The clinical practice arena should emphasise emotional support for student nurses, enhance their self-directed reflection and explicitly focus on the essence of nursing in nursing homes.
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