To belong or not to belong: nursing students’ interactions with clinical learning environments – an observational study

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Erik Björck¹  Sari Ponzer²  Susanne Kalén²  Matilda Liljedahl³  Klara Bolander Laksov⁴ 

[1] Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Hospital, SE-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, SE-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet, SE-118 83, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden;Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Hospital, SE-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Education, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden;

关键词: Belongingness;    Clinical learning environments;    Clinical nursing education;    Observational study;    Workplace learning;    Workplace participatory practices;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-016-0721-2

 received in 2016-02-10, accepted in 2016-07-29,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBelongingness has been argued to be a prerequisite for students’ learning in the clinical setting but making students feel like they belong to the workplace is a challenge. From a sociocultural perspective, workplace participatory practices is a framework that views clinical learning environments to be created in interaction between students and the workplace and hence, are dependent on them both. The aim of this study was to explore the interdependence between affordances and engagement in clinical learning environments. The research question was: How are nursing students influenced in their interactions with clinical learning environments?MethodsAn observational study with field observations and follow-up interviews was performed. The study setting comprised three academic teaching hospitals. Field observations included shadowing undergraduate nursing students during entire shifts. Fifty-five hours of field observations and ten follow-up interviews with students, supervisors and clinical managers formed the study data. A thematic approach to the analysis was taken and performed iteratively with the data collection.ResultsThe results revealed that students strived to fill out the role they were offered in an aspirational way but that they became overwhelmed when given the responsibility of care. When students’ basic values did not align with those enacted by the workplace, they were not willing to compromise their own values. Workplaces succeeded in inviting students into the community of nurses and the practice of care. Students demonstrated hesitance regarding their desire to belong to the workplace community.ConclusionThe results imply that the challenge for clinical education is not to increase the experience of belongingness but to maintain students’ critical and reflective approach to health care practice. Additionally, results suggest students to be included as an important stakeholder in creating clinical learning environments rather than being viewed as consumer of clinical education.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016