Student nurses' experiences during clinical practice in the Limpopo Province

Abstract

Clinical learning experiences form an integral part of the student nurse's training, for it is in the clinical setting that students acquire the knowledge, skills and values necessary for professional practice.

The purpose of this research was to explore student nurses experiences during clinical practice. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was utilised, employing the phenomenological method. Unstructured interviews were conducted with student nurses in their final year of the four year nursing programme at a nursing college campus in the Limpopo Province. Tesch's method of data analysis was used.

The findings indicate that there are aspects which impact negatively on student nurses' clinical learning experiences, such as lack of teaching and learning support, lack of opportunities for learning, poor theory-practice integration, and poor interpersonal relationships between the students, college tutors and ward staff.

Recommendations to enhance the clinical learning experiences of student nurses were made.