The meaning of the clinical learning experience of Korean nursing students

Clinical learning is the major component of nursing education. Since nursing is a practice discipline, experiential learning in clinical practice is vital in a nursing student's education. Moreover, it is within the structure of clinical practice that nursing students are inducted into the profession of nursing. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the meanings embedded in the clinical learning experience of Korean nursing students. Informants were 25 junior baccalaureate nursing students in their first clinical rotation who volunteered to participate in extended, unstructured audio-recorded interviews, and to submit clinical diaries for six months. The patterns of the lived experience of clinical learning that emerged from this research are illustrated with descriptive data and provide useful insights for nursing faculty and students involved in nursing education.