Professional Experience Placement

This study by Manninen et al (2013) was undertaken in Sweden as part of a larger study. Individual and group interviews were undertaken to collect the data. The aim of this study was to explore final year nursing students experiences of learning when they are support to take care of patients. The study was conducted in one ward of a teaching hospital that the authors acknowledge may have been a limitation of the findings.

From the analysis of the interview data two main themes emerged. These were:

• uncertainty as a threshold; and
• experiencing engagement.

Further sub themes were placed within these categories. Self-centredness and ambivalence towards patients were feelings found within this theme. It was found that some students showed self-absorption and distance in their relationships with patients. These students focused on carrying out different tasks and their relationship with supervisors was marked by dependency and ambivalence. The authors found stunts wanted to be independent, while at the same time wanted to be given instructions. Students felt that supervisors were supposed to be resource, but were not available when needed. Due to the number of students learning on the ward this study found students could also be ambivalent towards their peers. They found that some students were competitive rather than collaborative, especially when medical-technical tasks were involved. It was also reported that some students wanted the supervisors to control access to tasks among students.

Students who managed to overcome the threshold for engagement focused on patients and learning how nursing can affect the patient’s condition and well-being. These students created mutual relationships and experienced professional development and learning through patients, by doing things and collaborating with others. The authors use examples to convey how students expressed this relationship development and their growth in realising that understanding, presence and communication were as, or more important than undertaking tasks. Professional development meant understanding the complex reality and the wholeness of nursing care and being able to collaborate with others.

These two main themes are important for clinical supervisors to understand because final year students are beginning the transition to becoming graduates. The feelings of uncertainty are an obstacle for learning and students need to move past this threshold and change their outlook on what it means to learn in a particular environment and reach a more complex level of understanding. The ability to construct new knowledge and meaning can be further be supported with feedback and collaboration that can occur when students are in safe and authentic settings. Supervisors need to be aware of the influence of challenges and support on student learning. The authors concluded by stating a key to student learning seems to be the experience of external and internal authenticity. Undertaking professional experience in a challenging but supported environment is essential for transitioning from student to graduate.

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