Nursing students’ perceptions and experiences of e-internships during the COVID-19 pandemic: A phenomenological study

Abstract

Background Clinical internship is an indispensable stage for nursing students to graduate successfully and become qualified nurses. However, COVID-19, a novel coronavirus disease with strong human-to-human transmission, hit China in late 2019 and forced the Chinese government to suspend classes and clinical internships. To cope with this situation, e-internship, which facilitate varied interactions without the need for direct contact, is used as an alternative strategy to help nursing students continue their internships. Objectives To describe the perceptions and experiences of undergraduate nursing students in e-internships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A descriptive phenomenological design was adopted. Seventeen undergraduate nursing students in a major teaching hospital in Changsha, China, were recruited into the study. Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Colaizzi’s approach. Results Four themes were captured from the data analysis: perceived images of clinical nurses in e-internships, psychological experience, perceived benefits of e-internships, and perceived limitations of e-internships. Conclusions Our findings suggest that e-internship is a suitable method for training and cultivating undergraduate nursing students during a crisis. To enhance the efficiency of e-internships, guidelines and standards should be formulated, and effective measures should be taken to build better e-internship platforms. In the future, we suggest combine on-site internships with e-internships, thereby fully using their advantages, and improve the efficiency of internships as much as possible.

The benefits and challenges of the use of digital technology on clinical learning of undergraduate nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: An integrative literature review

“…The positive learning experience could be related to the self-confidence of being able to practice procedures in a less intimidating environment. Similar sentiments were shared by Badowski et al (2021); Fung et al (2021); Yi et al (2022) and Saab et al (2022). In this regard, students had various opportunities to carry out trial and error in the reprioritization of nursing diagnosis while receiving prompt feedback, thus creating positive learning experiences (Badowski et al, 2021;Saab et al, 2022).…”

“…This study also revealed several challenges about digital technology utilization for clinical learning (Badowski et al, 2021;Bryan et al, 2022;Flo et al, 2021;Fung et al, 2021;Hu et al, 2022;Jiménez-Rodríguez & Arrogante, 2020;Kim et al, 2021;Mbombi et al, 2022;Ndayisenga et al, 2022;Oducado & Soriano, 2021;Saab et al, 2022;Yi et al, 2022). Technical challenges such as accessibility or usability issues and unavoidable technical difficulties were cited as impediments to the use of digital technology among undergraduate nursing students during the COVID -19 pandemic.…”

“…In nursing, compassion and understanding are crucial elements in the patient's recovery process. However, this study found it concerning that technology did not provide opportunities for nurses to show affection to their simulated patients (Jiménez-Rodríguez & Arrogante, 2020;Saab et al, 2022;Thapa et al, 2021;Yi et al, 2022). They stipulated that they could not connect emotionally or feel the skin or pulse of the patient (Saab et al, 2022).…”

“…The majority of the studies identified attitudes towards the use of digital technology in clinical learning (Badowski et al, 2021;Bryan et al, 2022;Flo et al, 2021;Fung et al, 2021;Jiménez-Rodríguez & Arrogante, 2020;Mbombi et al, 2022;Oducado & Soriano, 2021;Saab et al, 2022;Yi et al, 2022). These studies agreed that the use of digital technology is also related to individual perceptions.…”

“…Technology in clinical learning was also viewed as a threat to affection and humanity. Saab et al (2022); Yi et al (2022) and Thapa et al (2021) observed that it is difficult to provide affection in a simulated case as compared to the real patient.…”