Abstract
Background
International clinical placements are being increasingly offered to expose students
to different health settings internationally. Both nationally and internationally
there is a need to build the primary health care nursing workforce to meet changing
community needs. Exposure to specialty areas during clinical placement can impact
career choices.
Aim
This paper explores the experiences of Australian undergraduate nursing students undertaking
a primary health care clinical placement in Cambodia.
Method
This exploratory qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to gather experiential
narratives. Eight Australian undergraduate nursing students from a single University
in New South Wales, Australia participated in the study. Verbatim transcripts were
analysed using thematic analysis.
Results
Interview data revealed four themes, namely; Preparation for placement, Challenges, “The experience is so, so worth it” and PHC
“it's a lot more than words on a page now”. Despite pre-placement preparation, students were challenged during the placement
in ways that they never expected. These challenges saw them grow both professionally
and personally from the experience. Additionally, exposing students to primary health
care in practice helped to demonstrate the value and importance of this area of nursing.
Conclusions
International clinical placement experiences present undergraduate nursing students
with unique challenges and facilitate both professional and personal growth. Enhanced
appreciation of primary health care among participants has potentially positive implications
as they enter the nursing workforce. However, future studies need to investigate the
longer term impact of international placement experiences within the broader undergraduate
preparation of nurses and into their future careers.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 07, 2017
Accepted:
August 28,
2017
Received in revised form:
August 14,
2017
Received:
July 7,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
