Final year experience of BSN Students in the clinical environment: Professional Pride

Clinical practice is considered a very important part of the nursing education. Effective and dynamic interactions among the students, Health care providers, instructors, and the clinical environment and its elements affect their professional development. This report is part of a major study that describes the final year experience of BSN student in the clinical environment. through this qualitative study, the data was collected from 12 undergraduate nursing students in two large nursing and midwifery schools and two new graduated students. In-depth semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of participants during their clinical placements and after graduation. The data were analyzed using the Straussian version (1998) of grounded theory method. Professional pride as one of the significant findings of study was evident in experiences of participating students in the final year of their study. Professional pride as one of the most important results of the seminal study consisted of three subcategories: professional adequacy, accepted by others, and the practice of being professional. This feeling initiated and developed through last three semesters. Participants while acquiring individual capabilities and professional competencies, due to prolong presence in clinical environments had much more opportunities to interact and to make relationship with patients and health care members. In addition, they found that they must to be ready to practice in the real workplace. Professional pride experienced by student nurses coincided with entering to the Internship program. Revision of the philosophy, mission, and goals of the Internship program and make any modifications in execution of program in the clinical settings can result in positive effects on socialization and role transition of the student nurses. Recommendations to enhance the clinical experiences of student nurses in final year of their study were outlined.