The findings may inform educational approaches involving communication skills training, supervised reflective learning, and guidance for emotionally challenging encounters, which may support students’ perceived confidence in providing compassionate, person-centred and holistic care.
Abstract
Obstetric and gynaecologic clinical practice may expose nursing students to emotionally demanding situations and complex care interactions that shape emerging professional identity and confidence.
The aim of this study was to explore nursing students’ care experiences during their obstetric and gynaecologic clinical practice.
A qualitative descriptive design was used. All eligible third-year nursing students who had participated in obstetric and gynaecologic clinical practice for the first time were recruited for the study. Data were collected through written reflective care stories at the end of the rotation. Narratives from 35 students were analysed using qualitative content analysis, following Graneheim and Lundman.
Four main themes emerged from the students’ narratives: (1) Professional identity questioning and humanistic care orientation, (2) Self-discovery and understanding nursing beyond tasks, (3) Struggles and barriers in providing emotional support, and (4) Satisfaction with the care offered and perceived self-efficacy. Students described reflecting on the kind of nurse they aspired to become, recognizing the importance of emotional presence alongside technical care, experiencing uncertainty in highly sensitive situations and reporting satisfaction with the care they offered and a sense of perceived self-efficacy when they addressed patient needs through education, problem-solving, and supportive presence.
Clinical learning environments and role modelling may influence students’ professional socialization in obstetrics and gynaecologic settings. The findings may inform educational approaches involving communication skills training, supervised reflective learning, and guidance for emotionally challenging encounters, which may support students’ perceived confidence in providing compassionate, person-centred and holistic care.
Psychiatric nursing is one of the most demanding areas in clinical practice. Undergraduate nursing students often experience fear, stigma, and uncertainty during their initial clinical placement in psychiatric settings. Understanding these early experiences is important for informing strategies to support students’ confidence, empathy, and professional identity. Limited research has explored how nursing students in Saudi Arabia interpret their first transition into psychiatric settings; this study aimed to explore the lived experiences of nursing students during their initial clinical placement. This study used a qualitative design guided by van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 12 undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a psychiatric clinical training program at a public university in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed following van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach, involving holistic, selective, and detailed reading with phenomenological reflection and interpretive writing. Four themes emerged, reflecting van Manen’s four lifeworld existentials of space, body, time, and relation: entering an unfamiliar environment (lived space), emotional strain (lived body), uncertain beginnings to cautious adaptation (lived time), and confronting stigma and negotiating connections (lived relation). Students’ first psychiatric placements were characterized by fear, uncertainty, and emotional strain, which gradually gave way to cautious adaptation and moments of emerging confidence. The findings highlight the value of structured mentorship, supportive learning environments, and preparatory strategies such as simulation and anti-stigma initiatives to help students manage the emotional complexity of psychiatric nursing practice. Not applicable.
Background Missed nursing care is an important indicator of healthcare quality and patient safety. Junior nurses undergoing the transition from student to professional practitioner are particularly vulnerable to missed nursing care due to limited clinical experience, insufficient professional competence, and challenges in adapting to complex clinical environments. However, the multidimensional factors contributing to missed nursing care among junior nurses remain insufficiently understood. Methods A qualitative descriptive study was conducted involving 12 junior nurses with ≤3 years of clinical experience. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured, in-depth interviews and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's six-phase thematic analysis approach. This study aimed to explore junior nurses’ perceptions and experiences of missed nursing care and to identify the underlying factors contributing to its occurrence in clinical practice. Results Three overarching themes and eight subthemes emerged from the analysis. (1) Individual factors, including insufficient knowledge and clinical skills, psychological stress and challenges in professional role transition, and weakened professional responsibility; (2) Organizational factors, including inadequate staffing and excessive workload, deficiencies in quality management and supervisory support, and limited career development opportunities and incentive mechanisms; and (3) External environmental factors, including challenges associated with healthcare system transformation and increasing expectations from patients and family members. Participants reported that missed nursing care often resulted from the interaction of personal limitations, organizational constraints, and external pressures. Conclusions Junior nurses' experiences of missed nursing care are shaped by multidimensional influences at the individual, organizational, and external levels. Addressing missed nursing care requires comprehensive and multilevel interventions, including competency-based education, strengthened psychological and transition support, optimized nursing management systems, and enhanced institutional and social support. Such efforts may help reduce missed nursing care and improve the quality and safety of nursing services.
Rongrong Zhou, Xiaojuan Liu, Bihua shen et al.· Frontiers in Health Services· 0 citations
Discrepancies between academic nursing education and the realities of clinical practice may contribute to challenges during the transition from student to professional nurse. To address this, many countries and hospitals have implemented clinical introduction programmes for newly graduated nurses. However, limited knowledge exists regarding how these programmes influence nurses’ experiences of transitioning into their professional role over time. This study seeks to explore the lived experiences of nurses one year after completing a clinical nursing introduction programme, two years post-graduation. The study adopted a qualitative descriptive phenomenological design. The setting was a general hospital in southwest Sweden. The participants comprised 12 registered nurses two years after graduation who had completed a one-year clinical nursing introduction programme. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using qualitative thematic analysis grounded in descriptive phenomenology. Three themes were identified: A hunger for more, responsibility for being a caring nurse, and becoming self-aware and self-confident. Two years post-graduation and one year after completing the clinical nursing introduction programme, nurses expressed a strong drive for ongoing professional and personal growth, characterized by curiosity and a desire for autonomy. They emphasized responsibility for delivering patient-centred care, often prioritizing caring values to the extent of considering leaving workplaces that failed to support these ideals. Finally, participants reported increased confidence and self-awareness, viewing help-seeking as a sign of professional security rather than weakness. This development was supported by collegial relationships and reflective discussions on ethical dilemmas. The clinical nursing introduction programme may provide an important foundation for ongoing professional and personal growth. The findings suggest that protected time, peer interaction, reflective practice, and supportive management were perceived as contributing to a developmental trajectory from ‘being’ to ‘becoming’ a nurse, while supporting lifelong learning, caring values, and clinical confidence. However, these perceived longer-term benefits should be interpreted with caution, as they may also reflect broader processes of professional maturation and workplace socialisation. The findings indicate that introduction programmes that incorporate opportunities for reflection, collegial support, and leadership engagement may help support the continued development of competence and confidence beyond the programme period.
F. Sundberg, Mia Berglund, Anna Kjellsdotter· BMC Nursing· 0 citations
BackgroundThis study explored nursing students' lived experiences and perceptions of caregiving practices and the distribution of caregiving responsibilities in clinical settings within the context of holistic nursing.MethodsA qualitative study using an interpretive phenomenological approach was conducted. Data were collected between March and June 2026 through semi-structured interviews with 24 nursing students with clinical experience. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis.ResultsCaregiving was often deprioritized, fragmented, and delegated to students. Clinical environments were described as task-oriented and constrained by workload and bureaucratic demands, limiting holistic and relational care. Students perceived caregiving primarily as an individual moral responsibility rather than a structured professional obligation. Limited role modeling and supervision reinforced this pattern.ConclusionA gap exists between holistic care values in education and clinical practice. The marginalization of caregiving threatens the relational and humanistic foundations of nursing. Strengthening care-focused environments, role modeling, and support for holistic care is essential to sustain core nursing values.
Şadiye Özcan, Fusun Afsar· Journal of Holistic Nursing· 0 citations
Medical students’ perceptions of nursing are strongly shaped by early and variably structured clinical experiences, particularly the nursing internship, and the findings suggest that current medical curricula insufficiently support the systematic development of interprofessional role understanding.
Lukas Valerius, Jonathan Hagedorn, Christian Albert et al.· Frontiers in Medicine· 0 citations
Introduction
Hospital clinical placements constitute a fundamental component of nursing education, enabling students to integrate theoretical knowledge, develop clinical competencies, and form a professional identity. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), nursing students' lived experiences and perceptions during hospital placements remain underdocumented.
Purpose
To explore the perceptions, lived experiences, challenges, and learning opportunities of nursing students at the Higher Institute of Medical Techniques of Kinshasa (ISTM-Kinshasa) during hospital-based clinical placements.
Methods
A descriptive qualitative study was conducted among 24 undergraduate nursing students (L1 to L3) who had completed at least one hospital clinical placement. Participants were selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke's framework.
Results
Six major themes emerged: (1) perceptions of clinical placements as learning opportunities; (2) organizational and material challenges; (3) emotional responses and coping strategies; (4) supervisory dynamics and staff relationships; (5) theory–practice gap; and (6) student expectations and recommendations. While students acknowledged placements as essential for practical skill acquisition and professional identity formation, systemic constraints—such as equipment shortages, inadequate preceptor ratios, high patient loads, and variable supervision quality—hindered their learning.
Conclusion
Optimizing clinical nursing education at ISTM-Kinshasa requires structured preceptor training, provision of essential clinical supplies, harmonized clinical evaluation tools, and improved academic-clinical partnerships.
Unknown authors· Orapuh Journal· 0 citations
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