Clinical staff and the new student nurse: anticipating change

The study explored the world of the clinical staff in relation to their expectations of Project 2000 students and identified feelings of threat, lack of communication and issues of change and its implementation.

Abstract

This article focuses on the feelings and perceptions of clinical staff who are about to encounter Project 2000 students. It makes use of selected findings from a small exploratory study in which interviews were used to gather qualitative data from such staff. There is a brief consideration of the historical context of nurse education from which Project 2000 has arisen and the legislation that has been instrumental in its development. Embodied within this change is the expectation that clinical staff will continue to contribute to the education of student nurses on clinical placements. The target population for this study was identified as clinical staff who would be working with Project 2000 students within a large general teaching hospital. Through means of taped informal interviews, the study explored the world of the clinical staff in relation to their expectations of Project 2000 students. It identified feelings of threat, lack of communication and issues of change and its implementation. For successful implementation and wide acceptance of such a radical change in nurse education, consistency of knowledge and communication was shown to be essential.