| Learning Objective #1: Describe the work of student nurses | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Identify the ways in which students classify patients in relation to faculty work |
The “Work of Student Nurses” is a basic social process discovered during a grounded theory study of student nurses. The purpose of this study was to provide an explanation of the different types of work students engage in during their clinical rotations, faculty work, patient work, and staff work. The data was obtained using ethnographic methods of extensive field observations, formal, and informal interviews.
Dimensional Analysis was used to analyze the data. One of the consequences of the process was the objectification of the patient. Instead of approaching the patient from a nursing care perspective, student nurses saw the patient as a means to complete specific faculty requirements. Students classified patients as good patients if they possessed certain qualities or characteristics that would support faculty work. These qualities ranged from basic care needs to physiological needs that could lead to specific nursing diagnoses for the care plan. Conversely, bad patients made faculty work more difficult. Unlike practicing nurses who define a difficult patient as one who possesses objectionable behavioral characteristics, student nurses labeled a bad patient as one who impeded progress with faculty work.
The meaning of work for student nurses in the clinical arena may not have the same meaning that faculty would ascribe to work. Students see their clinical experiences as one segment of preparation for nursing but they place an emphasis on faculty work. The patient then becomes an object in the effort to fulfill the requirements. When designing clinical experiences, faculty may want to take into consideration that in the student's perspective, patient and staff work are at times a means to accomplish faculty work. Future research should explore this perspective as students progress in their nursing program of study.