Clinical placement experiences and the professional values of graduate entry nursing students

Healthcare workers, including nursing students, must understand and operationalise their professional values to a high standard because they are vital to delivering quality healthcare. Time should be invested in explicitly identifying, developing and sustaining nursing students’ professional values. Developing professional values is critical for student nurses, especially Graduate Entry Nursing (GEN) students on an accelerated nursing programme. This research sought to identify and examine the relationship between the clinical placement experiences and professional values of GEN Students. A qualitative methodology with a social constructivist paradigm was adopted within a qualitative interview study design. Data were generated from two focus group interviews and 12 semi-structured interviews, that were analysed using Thematic Analysis (TA). The findings suggest that a complex interdependent relationship exists between the clinical placement experiences and the professional values of the participants. The participants found that their clinical placement experiences allowed them to put into practice their professional values. Their professional values allowed them to approach and understand their clinical placement experiences. This research further suggests that professional values influence how student nurses deliver patient care and maintain patient safety and that clinical placement experiences change professional values. An unexpected finding was the emotional implications identified from the clinical placement experiences on their professional values as future nurses. The GEN student group is viewed as unique because of their life experience, background, previous education, and skill set. As such, this research adds new knowledge regarding GEN students’ understanding of their professional values and capacity to identify clinical placement experiences which were related to their professional values. Finally, this research provides a unique view into the GEN students’ emotional awareness and management when working within the constraints of the current NHS. Professional values are a part of nursing and are here to stay.