Nurturing Nursing Students During Intensive Care Unit Clinical Practicum

Abstract

Approximately one-third of new graduates will quit their jobs in the first year. When nurses leave, vacant positions result in increased overtime for the remaining staff, which eventually results in burnout. Burnout leads to even more turnover. This article describes how the staff transformed a neurosurgical intensive care unit and nurture students through the application of Jean Watson's 10 Caritas processes. When nursing students complete their clinical practicum in the unit, learning is enhanced, the students seek to continue to work in the intensive care unit, recruitment and retention are encouraged, and burnout may be prevented.

Being a Student Nurse in Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Study

“…Also, Taştan et al (11) found that students defined ICU as depressing environments with constant monitor sounds and alarms and they mentioned the feelings of fear and panic created by the environment saying, "I was terrified by the sounds of mechanical ventilators, to which patients were connected for breathing, and I panicked when the alarm sounded". It is important to inform students about the neurosurgical ICU environment, the patients treated in this unit and their conditions, regular care interventions, the technological devices used and their intended use as this will reduce anxiety on the first day (8,11) . In addition, introducing students to the nurses they will work with in the unit, informing students about the learning objectives expected from them and assuring them that they can contact the instructor whenever they need, could also reduce students' anxiety.…”

“…Data were collected using a demographic characteristics form and a semi-structured interview form designed by the researchers in line with the literature (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)8,(10)(11)(12)(13)(14) . The demographic characteristics form consisted of four questions to determine descriptive characteristics such as age, gender of the students, and duration of clinical training.…”

“…Nursing education aims to equip students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and self-esteem they will need while performing nursing profession (1)(2)(3)(4) . Nursing students acquire professional qualifications through education offered in school and clinical settings (5)(6)(7)(8) . Internalization of the powers, roles and responsibilities of nursing by students through receiving a qualified education (2,6,9) is significant for professionalization in nursing (1,6,7) .…”

“…In these units, students get the opportunity to identify, implement and assess nursing care needs of critical patients, and to observe team collaboration and communication (2,4,(10)(11)(12)(13)(14) . In one of these units, the neurosurgical ICU, students can serve and provide care to neurosurgical patients with different medical monitoring and care needs (3,8) . It is vital that nursing students feel safe in these complex and stressful units (2,7) .…”

“…On the other hand, the majority of studies investigating students' experiences in critical care settings focus on general ICU experience (2,4,7,(9)(10)(11)(12) and do not provide information about experience in specialized units such as the neurosurgical ICU. Although few in number, the existing studies suggest that the support given to students by neurosurgical nurses (8) and teaching offered by nurses for the care of neurosurgical patients in the presence of real life conditions (3) positively affect the clinical experience (8) and increase students' knowledge, skills and self-esteem (3) . In the light of these points, the aim of this study was to determine the perceptions, thoughts and clinical experiences of second-year nursing students about the clinical training in an ICU.…”