Final-year nursing students' placement experiences in a critical care setting: A qualitative study
Mary Edmonds1, Naim Abdulmohdi2
1Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
Nursing in Critical Care
|February 20, 2025
Summary
Final-year nursing students gain valuable management skills and confidence through critical care placements, preparing them for registered nurse roles. These experiences are vital for professional development and readiness.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Education
- Critical Care Nursing
- Student Professional Development
Background:
- Traditional nursing education relies on ward placements for management skill development.
- Intensive care units (ICUs) are underutilized for student practice despite offering unique learning opportunities.
- Limited research exists on ICUs as effective environments for developing nursing management skills.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the experiences of final-year nursing students during their critical care placement.
- To understand the complexities of student learning in a critical care setting.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative study employing an inductive methodology.
- Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with ten final-year nursing students.
- Thematic analysis of interview data collected pre-Covid-19 pandemic.
Main Results:
- Three key themes emerged: barriers to learning, empowering transformation, and readiness for practice.
- Students valued "real learning" experiences, coaching, and constructive feedback.
- Increased confidence led to proactive skill refinement and visualization of future roles as registered nurses.
Conclusions:
- Critical care placements, with adequate support and supervision, offer a stimulating and transformative learning experience for nursing students.
- These placements enhance decision-making abilities and readiness for professional practice.
- Focusing on support systems during critical care placements can improve student confidence and job satisfaction.
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