The effect of student nurses' experiences over the Common Foundation Programme on their inferences of suffering

Poor pain assessment contributes to inadequate postoperative pain relief. Studies in the U.S.A. suggest that nurse education might make students less sensitive to patients' experience of pain. This research examined this process and the factors that influence it in the U.K. Two-hundred and seventeen students completed the Standard Measure of Inferences of Suffering Questionnaire (SMIS) before and after their Common Foundation Programme (CFP). Their inferences of psychological distress increased as studies in the U.S.A. had found but, unlike these studies, no change was found in their inferences of pain. These findings have important implications for both nurse education and the mechanisms to support student nurses in clinical practice.