'Doing clinical': the lived experience of nursing students

This investigation looked at the phenomenon of 'doing clinical' from the nursing students' perspective. A qualitative descriptive research based on the phenomenological approach was chosen as the method to reveal the meaning of 'doing clinical', through the analysis of nursing students' descriptions of their everyday lived experience of undertaking the clinical program. Nine, second year Bachelor of nursing students with at least 13 weeks of clinical experience were interviewed. These intensive interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis of significant statements of the text was conducted resulting in sixteen theme clusters deriving from specific themes. These sixteen themes clusters and specific themes fell into 6 categories and there were: being in a world of conflicting and confusing values, deciding whether nursing is for me, becoming a professional nurse, discovering what nursing is, being an active learner, and having mixed feelings and thoughts on entry to the clinical program. The essential structure of the meaning of 'doing clinical' from the students' perspective is described and implications for nursing education, practice and research is discussed.