Multicultural nursing students’ challenges at clinical placements

The purpose of the thesis was to describe challenges faced by foreign language nursing students in Finland during their guided clinical placements. The research examined the main barriers that hinder the effective and successful completion of clinical placement by foreign-language students. The main aim of this thesis was to collect evidence-based information on the topic and describe, highlight and clarify the key challenges faced by the foreign nursing students during their internships at various clinical placements. A literature review method was selected for this thesis, because it helped to identify the knowledge in particular research topic and interpret it with respect to pre-existing propositions, theories, methodologies and findings. The data for the thesis was collected from reliable evidence-based articles and research works related to the topic. All the data was analysed by the means of inductive content analysis. The results of the thesis showed that there are various barriers faced by the foreign-language students and their mentors during clinical placements. These barriers are cultural and linguistic, discrimination, social barriers, barriers imposed by clinical placement supervisors, barriers related to foreign language students itself, unsupportive clinical placement environment, ineffective support from educational institutions, and finally, future career perspectives. Thus, the ways of training of the new clinical placement mentors and developing the overall communication culture at the clinical placements should be further studied and developed both by universities of applied sciences and institutions organizing clinical placements for foreign-language nursing students in Finland