Nursing students' exposure to the clinical learning environment and its influence on their specialization choice

Abstract

Nursing students in South Africa are exposed to various clinical environments as part of the prescribed curriculum (SANC, 2008). These clinical environments not only positively or negatively influence nursing students but also greatly influence their decisions regarding future specialization. This relationship between the influence of the clinical environment and the decision to apply at a specific hospital was established by Andrews et al. (2005:147), but little is known about how it affects the decision of nursing students to specialize in a specific area. According to the South African Nursing Council‟s statistical data, an additional qualification in operational theatre is one of the least qualifications applied for (SANC, 2012b). This indicates that not many nursing students choose, for example, the theatre as a specialization area when their studies are completed. In light of this evidence, this study aimed to explore the influence that the clinical environment has on the decision of nursing students to specialize in a specific area. An explorative and descriptive design, which is qualitative in nature, was followed to conduct this study. The data collection was conducted in two phases. Phase one: Nursing students' experiences after exposure to theatre as a clinical environment were explored by means of reflective essays. Data was analysed according to the principles of Tesch as described in Creswell (1994:154). Meetings between the researcher and an experienced co-coder resulted in consensus regarding the findings. Three main themes and eleven sub themes were identified and provided clarity on the influence of the clinical environment on nursing students. Phase two, consisting of two focus group discussions facilitated by an expert in focus group facilitation, was completed to validate the findings from the reflective essay. This data was transcribed, analysed and the findings validated by the existing data from phase one. Conclusions drawn from this study were that the clinical environment does influence the students' decision to specialize in operating theatre, but many choose not to specialize in theatre due to personal preferences.