Nursing students' narrated, lived experiences of caring, education and the transition into nursing, focusing on care of the elderly

Abstract: The overall aim of this longitudinal research project was to elucidate and reach an understanding of influencing aspects on nursing students' choice of future work area as newly graduated nurses. The influencing aspects should be affiliated with the three-year education, the students' transition into nursing and the care of the elderly. The first study (I) concerned the amount of projected education in gerontology and geriatrics in 30 colleges of nursing and health, and the result showed a variety between colleges. Newly admitted nursing students in three colleges responded to a questionnaire. A majority of the students preferred to work in the emergency care, rather than elder care, after graduation. Phenomenological analyses of one interview theme, after one year (II), gave two phenomena; patients' helplessness and identification/nonidentification of the individual patient. Phenomenological hermeneutic analyses were carried out on all interviews and diaries provided from the three years (III-V). The findings (III) show that the rneaning of caring for elderly patients was a process from naive caring via deeper relationships with patients to an organizational perspective. The transition into nursing (IV) meant for the students a process from a natural interest in caring to the perspective of an RN, where co-operation with team members had a strong influence. The students' experiences of theoretical and clinical elder care were not positive, which meant that their reluctance to work there was reinforced (V). Content analyses about students' reasoning regarding two fictitious elderly patient cases (Vl) showed a development in reasoning in a more acute oriented case but not in a case with a confused elderly patient. Conclusions drawn imply that both the theoretical and the clinical education in gerontology and geriatrics need to be strengthened.