title: First-year Swedish nursing students' experiences with elderly patients.
abstract: Nursing students' attitudes toward elderly people have frequently been found to be negative. This study's aim was to describe the experiences of first-year nursing students with elderly people. Thirty students from 3 Swedish nursing colleges, interviewed during the last weeks of their first year, were asked to describe a memorable event that had occurred when they were caring for an elderly patient. The narratives were analyzed phenomenologically. Three perspectives emerged: the students' perceptions of the patients, the staff's roles, and their own roles. From these, two phenomena were identified: patients' helplessness and students' identification/nonidentification of the individual patient. Students described difficult situations for elderly patients; patients with difficult diseases, anxiety, pride; and conflicting views of how to treat patients.
authors.affiliation: Sophiahemmet College of Nursing and Health, Sweden.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fagerberg
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ekman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden