title: Doing the right thing: nursing students, relational practice, and moral agency.
abstract: Registered nurses and nurse educators are often unaware of how nursing students experience the nursing profession. In the current practice climate of increased workloads, reduced funding, and higher patient acuity, nurse educators are likely to hear from colleagues how unprepared newly qualified nurses are for the needs of practice. It is difficult for many nursing students to see value in their practice because they become preoccupied with their perceived lack of knowledge and technical skills. Nurses and nurse educators should be aware of how this brands new graduates and informs their sense of developing professional identity. Despite their feelings of deficit in terms of skills and knowledge, it is clear that many nursing students are, in fact, effectively negotiating relational ethics. This article presents a collaborative account of the important relational work being undertaken by one group of nursing students in New Zealand.
authors.affiliation: Waikato District Health Board.
authors.forename: Alesha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beckett
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gilbertson
authors.forename: Sallie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Greenwood
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000458:organization & administration; D004645:Empathy; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D009520:New Zealand; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000941:ethics; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000941:ethics; D011209:Power, Psychological; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D028662:Principle-Based Ethics; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012660:Semantics; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D016746:Transcultural Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration