Effect of Korean nursing students’ experience of incivility in clinical settings on critical thinking

Clinical experience is essential to helping nursing students to achieve and practice professional knowledge and skills. Published reports indicate nursing students often experience incivility during clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate nursing student incivility experience during their clinical rotations and the relationship of these experiences with their critical thinking dispositions. A cross-sectional descriptive correlational study design was utilized. Data were collected from junior (n = 195) and senior (n = 180) students in a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program in Seoul, Korea between October 15, 2017 and November 20, 2017 using a self-administered survey. Three instruments were used in the survey: six sociodemographic questions, the 13-item Korean version of Uncivil Behavior in Clinical Nursing Education (K-UBCNE) and the 27-item Yoon Critical Thinking Disposition (YCTD) tool. Data analysis revealed junior students reported significantly more incivility from nurses than the senior students (p = .038) during clinical learning experiences. Among YCTD subscales, the Prudence (p = .007) and Self-Confidence critical thinking (p = .007) scores from the senior nursing students were significantly higher than the junior students’ scores. No significant relationship was found between experience of incivility and critical thinking disposition scores. Based on the study results, nursing educators, staff nurses, and administrators/managers in nursing should identify incivility toward nursing students during clinical practicums and especially toward junior nursing students. Additional investigation of the relationship between critical thinking and experiences of incivility is warranted, including longitudinal investigations and qualitative studies among junior nursing students to understand their personal experience of incivility in the clinical setting. Findings could inform the development of targeted programs to reduce clinical incivility.