Psychological experience among internship nurses at different internship stages: A qualitative study

AIM: Some studies have found that clinical practice has caused great pressure and negative psychological experience to nursing students. Therefore, this study aimed to identify psychological experience at different internship stages among internship nurses. DESIGN: A qualitative study. METHODS: In this qualitative study, one‐to‐one in‐depth interviews and mixed data analysis strategies were conducted among internship nurses from May 2018 to February 2019. RESULTS: The pressure of the initial stage was operational pressure (80.0%), intermediate stage was nurse–patient communication (50.0%), and last stage was employment pressure (70.6%). Nursing students mainly expected to improve their operational and communication skills, and to acquire clinical experience, thinking ability and frontier knowledge. 62.5% students said ambivalent on “let us practice with being monitored,” especially in the last stage (88.2%). Clinical nursing teaching should pay attention to this dynamic experience and their factors and take corresponding measures to improve the quality of internship.