Exploration of Nursing Student's Lived Experiences of Encounter with Theory and Practice Gap

The gap between theoretical knowledge and clinical care is one of the main problems in nursing and nursing students cannot adapt to this situation. Studies on theoretical and clinical gaps have paid less attention to students' views and business in this field. Positive or negative experiences affect students' learning. This study aimed at the lived experiences of nursing students in the face of theoretical and practical gaps.

In this interpretive phenomenological study, seven nursing students were selected with purposeful sampling. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews and analyzed with Dickelman approach.

From the participants' answers, two main themes and seven subthemes were extracted; The theme "separation of professionalism in education and the clinic" from " Tendency to routine in bedside", " Restrictions on the use of professional knowledge in the clinic", " Lack of attention to standards in clinical conditions" and " Poor professional knowledge of clinical staff", and "lack of mutual understanding" from " Differences in faculty and clinical nursing status", " Different professional atmospheres in colleges and bedside" and " Non-professional interaction of clinical staff with faculty members " subthemes.

Theoretical and practical distance have negative experiences in shaping students' basic skills and professional abilities.