Impact of clinical practice on nursing students’ perceptions of the nursing profession

Abstract

Practical training is important in connecting the theory learnt at school with the real-life situations. Nursing students get to experience real scenarios with the guidance of a mentor. They receive guidance and skills and gain confidence in dealing with different situations. The learning experience should be seamless and lead to gaining expertise in the profession. However, the situation is not always smooth for the students. The aim was to examine how clinical practice influences nursing students' views on the nursing profession based on existing literature. A literature review was utilized to examine existing data and sources were retrieved from CINAHL Ultimate, PubMed and Medline. Factors identified that affect clinical practice for nursing student and thereby impact their perception of the profession were grouped into four categories. The categories include mentor specific factors, student specific factors, clinical environment specific factors and challenges. There is need for a shift on workmanship for the students, mentors, and the organization. Collaboration needs to be fostered strongly to retain fresh graduates in the profession. This will promote learning and reduce the shortage of workers.