Nursing Students’ Views on the Role Model Behaviors of Clinical Nurses and Their Reasons behind These Views

Abstract

〔Purpose〕In this study, we clarified the types of behaviors and attitudes exhibited by clinical nurses that nursing students recognize as role model behaviors and the reasons that students selected these behaviors.

〔Methods〕We interviewed 25 nursing students and recorded each interview verbatim; from the data, we extracted “role model behaviors” and “reasons for considering these behaviors this way”. We then conducted content analysis following the procedure of Berelson, B.

〔Results/Discussion〕We extracted 10 categories of role model behaviors such as “treat patients with a smile and civility”, “give appropriate assessments and act with brisk efficiency”, “assist patients while respecting their self-determination and dignity”, and “support and instruct team members”. Students’ reasons were divided into the following seven categories: “the patient responded well to the nurse’s care”, “the nurse’s behavior was better than that of the students’ or other nurses’”, “the nurse clearly provided good care for patients and their families by showing respect for patients’ individuality”, “the nursing student could understand what he or she had learned and concrete methods of nursing care by observing the nurse’s practices”, “the nursing student would be happy if he or she was a patient or a newly graduated nurse under the nurse’s care”, “the nurse appeared to perceive his or her responsibility as a professional and the necessity of cooperation in carrying out his or her duties”, and “the nurse’s behavior reflected that of the ideal nurse as imagined by the student”. There was no obvious characteristic shared between the behaviors and reasons categories. Nevertheless, our results showed the role of clinical nurses in the process and an effective method to teach nursing students such behaviors so that they can learn the attitudes and behaviors required for good nursing care.