Causes and effects of theory-practice gap during clinical practice: the lived experiences of baccalaureate nursing students

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the baccalaureate nursing students’ lived experiences of the causes and effects of TPG during clinical practice in a tertiary health institution in Enugu, Nigeria. METHOD: A qualitative design using existential descriptive phenomenological approach was adopted to explore 20 baccalaureate nursing students at 500 level of study. The class level of the students was purposively sampled and the exact number of students sampled using snowball technique. Semi-structured interview guide was the instrument for data collection. Data were collected using audio-tape recorder, face to face in depth discussions, and analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. RESULT: Five broad themes and 12 subthemes emerged from this study namely: Resource constraints (limited resources, resource improvise); Unhealthy human attitudinal and behavioural factors (nurse clinicians, nurse educators, student nurses factors); Environmental system challenges (paradoxical academic design and structure, paradoxical clinical setting); Integration Inadequacy (team cooperation paucity, scarce surveillance, insufficient timing of clinical placement); Observing effects of TPG (observing adverse impacts, observing positive implications). CONCLUSION: The causes of TPG during clinical practice emerge from nursing education and practice. TPG have adverse impacts on patients, nursing students, nursing education and practice, other health practitioners, while linkage to response is its positive implication.