A nurturing and caring environment to facilitate nursing students' professional development in Rwanda: a focused...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Professional Development
• Healthcare Practice

Background:

• Practice-based learning environments are crucial for nursing students' professional growth.
• Understanding supportive values, practices, and behaviors is essential for effective nursing education in Rwanda.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore values, practices, and behaviors supporting nursing students' professional development.
• To identify key elements of effective practice-based learning environments in Rwandan nursing education.

Main Methods:

• Focused ethnographic approach.
• Data collected through individual interviews and participant observation.
• Participants included nursing students, nurses, clinical instructors, and nurse leaders from Rwandan teaching hospitals and an educational program.

Main Results:

• A culture of preparing students for professional roles was embraced as a responsibility.
• Modeling appropriate behaviors and respecting students as learners and humans were identified as key caring attributes.
• These attributes sustain positive learning environments conducive to professional growth.

Conclusions:

• Nurturing and caring environments enable nursing students to integrate caring attitudes.
• These environments facilitate professional development and enhance patient interaction skills.
• Enhancing caring values within nursing curricula is recommended.