Nursing Students’ Perception of the Learning Experiences in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Abstract

Introduction: It is important to consider the students’ perception of clinical learning environments in order to enhance the quality of effective clinical education. We aimed to describe nursing student perceptions of clinical learning experience in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).Material & Methods: In this descriptive study, we used an exploratory qualitative approach. Data were collected using reflective journalism. 25 senior nursing students were asked to reflect and describe their learning experience in the NICU through reflective journal writing. The students were encouraged to reflect their desires, opinions, emotions, attitudes, or disapproval in their personal journals. Data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis.Results: We found four main categories which reflected the students’ experience: anxiety regarding skill incompetency, satisfaction with new skills, staff-student relationship, and clinical teacher competency.Conclusion: Positive interpersonal relationship between students, staff, and teachers are important factors for enhancing clinical learning. A clinical teacher must be able to provide students with appropriate knowledge and skills to decrease their anxiety regarding task performance. A clinical instructor needs more clinical experience and knowledge in order to have clinical competency.