RN as gatekeeper: Student understanding of the RN buddy role in clinical practice experience

Students may be informally buddied with registered nurses (RNs), during their clinical experience. This paper describes one component of a larger phenomenographic study that explored the qualitatively different ways students understand the RN buddy role during clinical experience and the implications of this understanding for student learning. The perception of the RN as gatekeeper was an unexpected finding and is the focus of this report. Phenomenography is a field of descriptive research concerned with the variation in ways people experience and understand similar phenomena. This approach was used to identify the variation in experience and understanding of students with buddy RNs. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 24 students from one university in Queensland, Australia. The two variations in understanding of the role discussed in this paper are: understanding as an expectation, and RN as gatekeeper: gatekeeping as access. The research highlights that the various ways RNs promote or block access for students influence the quality of the learning experience. Formal recognition of the complexity of the RN role is essential to ensure RNs have adequate preparation for their role with students.