Learning from experience in the community: An ethnographic study of district nurse students.

The starting point for this research was a set of issues originating from my experiences in nurse education and particularly in teaching courses in district nursing. These educational issues concerned the learning of student district nurses in the community a learning environment as yet little researched. This study seeks to gain an understanding of the learning experiences of district nurse students and to examine learning in the practice setting from the perspective of the students.Since the research depends upon the changing and differing interpretations of the individuals involved in the natural setting of the community an ethnographic approach has been adopted. The experiences of students are monitored throughout the taught practice element of the district nurse course in both inner city and rural/urban locations. Data, collected through interview and observation, is analysed in the context of theory relating to adult learning and learning from experience. Three major categories of response are identified and discussed in detail. These categories are sequential and represent the learning process experienced by the students in the practice setting, as they learn to fit in to a new environment, test out their own ideas and compare the unreality of college with the reality of practice. Attention is drawn to the difficulties experienced by district nurse students in fitting into new settings and trying out change, to the detrimental effect on learning of rigid practice routines and to the powerlessness of practical work teachers to influence the learning environments These issues are discussed in the context of changes already taking place in nurse education as a result of Project 2000. Suggestions for further research include the development of a package to evaluate the effectiveness of community practice settings as learning environments, and the promotion of teaching strategies based on experience and reflection