title: International student nurses' experiences of clinical practice in the Finnish health care system.
abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe international student nurses' experiences of their clinical practice in the Finnish health care system. The data were collected by semi-structured interviews. Fourteen international student nurses of African and Asian origin were interviewed, and the data were then analysed by qualitative content analysis. The results indicated that appreciative orientation, sense of belonging to the team, enhancing independent working, growing towards professionalism and working as a member of the team were descriptions of positive experiences. Descriptions of negative experiences were related to restricted learning and compromised human dignity, which lead to negative feelings of being an outsider, decreased self-esteem, sense of giving up and anticipation of difficulties. Despite the small sample size, the results indicate a need to develop clinical practice arrangements when the language of the learning environment is other than that of the student nurse. As the number of international students has increased in the Finnish health care sector and in nursing education, it is important to recognise the factors related to positive and negative experiences in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing and Health Care, Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 4030, FIN 00079, Metropolia, Finland. lea-riitta.mattila@metropolia.fi
authors.forename: Lea-Riitta
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Mattila
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pitkäjärvi
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eriksson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa / Q000208:ethnology; D001208:Asia / Q000208:ethnology; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005387:Finland; D005551:Foreign Professional Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult