Swedish nursing students' experience of aspects important for their learning process and their ability to handle the complexity of the nursing degree program

The aim of the study was to explore nursing students' experiences of aspects important for their learning process and their ability to handle the complexity of the nursing degree program. The study was longitudinal and qualitative based on interviews with nursing students, six women and two men aged 20-36, during their three years of education. In all, seven patterns were found embracing aspects of importance for the students' learning: Having a clear goal, being able to re-evaluate one's ideas, being acknowledged, when the abstract becomes tangible, using one's own experiences as a tool for learning, hovering between closeness and distance regarding one's future profession and handling theory and practice in relation to one another. The results show the importance of providing clinical courses, strongly connected to the theoretical parts of the program and to use reflection and experience-based learning in the nursing program. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.