Aim: Learning in clinical environments is a key aspect of the Bachelor of Nursing (BN) pre-registration programme. This article reports the findings of research exploring third year BN students’ experiences of dialogue with nurse lecturers during clinical practice placements.
Background: Third year BN students have limited situational and ready-to-hand knowledge of how to approach clinical situations and nurse lecturers have an important role in assisting students’ knowledge acquisition in clinical practice. This research explores student experiences of interactions and conversations with nurse lecturers in clinical practice to understand more about how learning is supported through this relationship.
Methodology: The research used an interpretive approach informed by Heideggarian phenomenology. Exploring students’ interpretation of interactions with nurse lecturers enables a deeper understanding of the meaning of dialogue in supporting learning in clinical practice. A purposive sample included three third year nursing students from two different Schools of Nursing in New Zealand.
Findings: Dialogue with nurse lecturers provides a significant source of support for BN students, especially when faced with challenging situations in practice. ’Being a Learner’ emerged as the central theme with three sub-themes evident including; ‘experiencing the unfamiliar’, ‘being good’ in clinical environments, and ‘professional sense making’.
Conclusions: Nurse lecturers enhance learning by listening to BN students’ experiences and providing strategies to help them make sense of clinical situations. Lecturers encourage growth and enhance the reflective skills of students using ready to hand situational clinical knowledge. Nursing education providers who prepare nurse lecturers sufficiently, will enhance students’ learning during clinical practice experiences.