The clinical environment – do student nurses belong? A review of Australian literature

Abstract

Objective – broad aim: This paper aims to identify some of the issues related to the nursing students’ experience of belonging on clinical placements from the current Australian literature. Anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests that nursing students on clinical placements often experience problems that can adversely affect their feeling of belonging in the clinical setting and ultimately their career decisions. As nursing shortages increase, retention of student nurses in their chosen profession is often affected by their clinical experiences, both positively and negatively (HWA, 2012).

Setting and Subjects: Health professionals’ attitudes towards nursing students may affect their feelings of belonging to the environment and the health care team. These health professionals include Registered Nurses and a range of other health professionals including medical staff, physiotherapists and dieticians. The clinical settings in which student nurses’ practice vary greatly and may also make a difference to the student experience and their feelings of belonging.

Primary Argument: Student expectations should include feeling welcomed to the clinical area and respected as part of the nursing culture. Clinical placements provide the ‘real world’ experience to complement classroom and laboratory education. These expectations are clearly not met in some clinical environments. Complimentary research reinforces the benefit of partnering students with experienced registered nurses who have an interest in teaching nursing students.

Conclusion: The literature has identified some examples of where students have felt a sense of belonging to the clinical environment and others where the situation has been less than encouraging. Provision of support, guidance and ensuring appropriate clinical education remain ongoing challenges for Australian universities and the health care system (Henderson et al 2011).