[Facilitation of respect for rights and responsibilities of people by student nurses]

Events such as strikes by nurses presently focus the attention on human rights in health care. During the four year training of the student nurse leading to registration the tutor should facilitate the development of respect for rights and responsibilities of people. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which respect for rights and responsibilities of people are facilitated with the student nurse, as well as to set guidelines for facilitating respect for rights and responsibilities in nursing education practice. A qualitative, contextual, exploratory, descriptive study was done at a nursing school. The literature concerning rights and responsibilities in health care was explored using a conceptual framework from which 10 categories related to rights and responsibilities were identified. These categories served as a guideline for the data analysis throughout the study. The inclusion of rights and responsibilities in the microcurricula of the nursing school were explored and described using content analysis. By means of a focus group interview and analysis of the transcription of the interview, the lecturers were used as a data source to describe how the concepts of rights and responsibilities were taught in practice. Subsequently, the respect for rights and responsibilities of people by the fourth year students was explored and described. Students were asked to write naive sketches about written scenario's of hypothetical situations from the clinical practice. After comparing the data from the four sources final interpretations were made concerning the extent to which respect for rights and responsibilities of people are facilitated with the student. Both facilitating factors and limitations were identified. From the interpretations nine guidelines with possible ways of operationalisation were set for nursing education.