Professional Nursing Values: Accounts of the Witnessed

In this research, the lived experience of nursing students in the clinical setting, specifically experiences relating to professional nursing values, were explored. This project aimed to answer the following questions: 1) How do student nurses describe observations of professional nursing values exhibited or violated by licensed nurses during the students’ clinical rotations? (2) What meaning do student nurses’ assign to and extract from their observations, particularly as it relates to how students believe it will influence their own future nursing practice? This research was qualitative with a phenomenological approach. Eight participants enrolled in senior level nursing clinical courses at The University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Park campus during the 2016 fall semester volunteered to participate in this study. The participants were asked to electronically submit journals detailing accounts of their observations of registered nurses either demonstrating or violating professional nursing values during the students’ clinical rotations. Data were analyzed for themes separately by the researcher and thesis advisor. The five themes identified from the data were 1) conversations, 2) convenience, 3) truth, 4) compassion, and 5) safety