Nurses' experiences working with nursing students in a hospital: a phenomenological enquiry

OBJECTIVE: this paper explores the experiences of registered nurses working with Spanish nursing students within the hospital. METHODS: a qualitative phenomenological approach was followed. Purposeful sampling was employed. Twenty-one registered nurses, from a public hospital located in Spain, were included in the study. Data were collected by means of unstructured and semi-structured interviews and were analysed using Giorgi's proposal. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research were followed. RESULTS: three main themes described the experience of registered nurses: "The nurse's relationship with nursing students"; most nurses emphasized the importance of the first contact with students and they considered students' attitude to be key. "Defining the role of the student in clinical practice"; it is necessary to unify the nurse's role and interventions to avoid misleading students and establish priorities in clinical practice. "Building bridges between clinical settings and the University"; the need to establish a common ground and connection between the university and hospital clinical settings was emphasized. Nurses felt that the training program should also be designed by the clinical settings themselves. CONCLUSIONS: understanding the meaning of nursing students with registered nurses might gain a deeper insight into their expectations.