Evaluation of Nursing Students' Nursing Undergraduate Program and Determination of Their Opinions on Education

Aim: This research was carried out to examine the opinions of fourth grade students of nursing department about the differences between theoretical education and clinical practices in nursing profession. Materials and methods: The sample of the descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of 131 fourth grade nursing students who agreed to participate in the study in the 2018-2019 academic year. The data of the research were collected with the Introductory Information Form and the Bachelor’s Degree Nursing Program Assessment Scale (BNPAS). The total score of BNPAS is 100, and the low score indicates that the program's effectiveness is negative and the high score is the program's effectiveness. Frequency, mean, percentage values, correlation analysis and Mann-Whitney U test were used to evaluate the data. Results: It was found that 53.4% of the students thought to work as a clinician after graduation and 87% thought that there was a difference between theoretical education and clinical practices in the nursing profession. The most common reason leading to difference is respectively; It was determined that the number of students was high (74.8%), insufficient application areas (63.4%), and the lack of teaching staff (47.3%). In order to overcome this difference of students; It has been determined that it makes suggestions such as strengthening the cooperation between clinical nurses and teaching staff (61.1%), establishment of simulation laboratories in schools (58.8%) and ensuring that the teaching staff deficit is in clinics (55%). The mean score of the students to evaluate the undergraduate program in nursing was 61.1±19.8. Conclusion: It was determined that the majority of students stated that there was a difference between theoretical education and clinical practices in nursing and they evaluated the undergraduate program in nursing as close to positive