International Nursing students’ Experience during Their Clinical Practice in Hospital

Abstract

Ashma Devkota.International Nursing students’ Experience during Their Clinical Practice in Hospital. The Graduate Bachelor‘s Thesis. The Tutor-PhD Jurgita Gulbiniene. Lithuanian University of Health Science, Medical academy, the Faculty of Nursing, Department of Nursing and Care. Kaunas, 2023; p.61 Background: Because of the globalization people are migrating to foreign country to pursue their higher studies. Especially the students who are enrolled in nursing studies in the foreign university are getting challenges, obstacles during their clinical practice. Clinical practice is the crucial part of the nursing programme. Knowledge’s, skills what you are going to learn in the clinical hours will determine your nursing skills and also impact your future career. Objective: The main aim of the study is to reveal the international nursing student’s experience during their clinical practice in hospital. Methodology: A qualitative study was conducted with eight foreign students studying in the Department of Nursing at the Lithuanian University of Health Science and data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Results: The study pointed out that international nursing student face lots of challenges such as: language and communication barrier, stresses, cultural problems, time management challenges, learning difficulties. Conclusions:  During their first clinical placement, students experienced a range of emotions: joy, sadness, and self-doubt. During the placement, the students performed various procedures (antibiotic dilution injections and many transpositions). However, they noticed that there is a gap between theory and practice.  During the Clinical Practice the students faced many challenges that affected their knowledge and practical skills. The language barrier is one of the main problems as students cannot communicate effectively with patients, nurse mentors and other medical staff. To solve this problem, students often use Google Translate and learn Lithuanian on their own.  During clinical practice, the relationship between the nurse mentor and the student is usually good. However, in hospitals there are very few English-speaking nurses, so one mentor has too many students, resulting in international students getting fewer procedures compare with Lithuanian students.  Each year of clinical practice has increased students' competence, confidence, and clinical skills. Students learned to cope with perceived stress in practice by changing their thoughts. They learn the Lithuanian language, which helps them a lot during their clinical practice.