Student nurses: novices or practitioners of brilliant care?

Student nurses are assumed to be novices in terms of traditional models of knowledge and skills development. The research described in this paper explored how relatively inexperienced students provide sophisticated care. The idea of 'brilliant care' is used to describe strategies used to improve the care of patients who are deemed difficult to care for. These strategies can contradict norms in the clinical area. The students therefore also had to learn to reconcile these conflicts. The findings of the research are used to challenge the accepted view of expertise in nursing practice. Students learn complex interpersonal skills quickly. The received view of expertise may therefore be excessively professionalised and technological. This paper is an adapted version of a paper presented at the RCN Research Advisory Group Conference in April 1995.