Professional nurses supporting learners during professional socialisation in Limpopo province

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Professional Socialisation
• Clinical Practice

Background:

• Professional nurses are key to the socialisation of learner nurses in clinical settings.
• Clinical placements offer crucial experiential learning opportunities for nursing students.
• Professional nurses act as custodians, providing essential support to learners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the role of professional nurses in supporting learner nurses during professional socialisation.
• To understand how experienced nurses facilitate the integration of new nurses into the profession.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative, explorative design using an ethnonursing approach.
• Purposive sampling of 25 professional nurses with at least 3 years of experience in socialisation.
• Data collected via face-to-face interviews and analysed using Tesch's open coding system.

Main Results:

• Professional nurses identified mentoring, teaching, and demonstrating competence as key support roles.
• Nurses recognized their responsibility in imparting ethical skills and knowledge.
• Awareness of the role in transferring professional values and practices was evident.

Conclusions:

• Effective professional socialisation of learner nurses is contingent upon adequate support during clinical placements.
• Supportive clinical environments foster positive learning experiences for nursing students.
• This study contributes to nursing education by highlighting the impact of mentorship on developing competent practitioners.