title: Clinical placements in residential aged care facilities: the impact on nursing students' perception of aged care and the effect on career plans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Undergraduate nursing students have often found clinical placements in aged care unsatisfactory and/or unsettling, dissuading them from considering aged care as an employment option on graduation. This study asked which elements of the clinical placement experience produced that outcome; and what changes could yield more positive outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive qualitative pilot study was carried out in late 2003. A combination of nominal groups and semi-structured interviews was used with students and experienced nurses to identify commonalities and variations in issues nominated as important and in the views expressed on those issues. Transcripts were independently analysed by two experienced investigators. Themes identified were discussed among the researchers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen volunteer undergraduate nursing students, all of whom had completed clinical placements in residential care and some of whom had prior experience in such facilities, participated in the nominal groups. Twelve registered nurses who had acted as clinical teachers in aged care facilities were interviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Perceived issues included: unexamined assumptions about nursing's core skills; lack of pre-placement orientation to the residential care environment; the appeal of and apprehension aroused by autonomous practice; and status, income and career progression considerations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analysis of the sometimes ambivalent and conflicting views expressed pointed to possible changes, all within the domain of training and employing institutions, capable of bringing submerged issues to the surface for examination and resolution as part of raising student understanding of gerontology as a demanding specialty and residential care as a rewarding career.
authors.affiliation: Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Queensland, Australia. j.abbey@qut.edu.au
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abbey
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abbey
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bridges
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Elder
authors.forename: Pam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lemcke
authors.forename: Jacki
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liddle
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thornton
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000379:methods*; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007397:Internship, Nonmedical / Q000379:methods*; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009735:Nursing Homes; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011793:Queensland; D012938:Social Perception; D013338:Students, Nursing; D000078329:Workforce