Relevant Learning Factors of Practicums at Home-visit Nursing Stations in Basic Nursing Education

Abstract

〔Aims〕The objective of this study was to determine what students learned during their practicum training at home-visit nursing stations as part of their basic nursing education and to identify the relevant learning factors.

〔Methods〕An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire survey was administered to nursing students who had completed their home-visit nursing practicums. Factor analysis was used to analyze what students learned during the practicum training at home-visit nursing stations, and multivariate analysis was performed to examine the association between each of the learning factors and their causes.

〔Results〕The following four factors were extracted as elements learned at home-visit nursing stations: [Understanding patients as community residents], [Assistance that grants the wishes of the patients and their families], [Role of nurses in multidisciplinary collaboration] and [Terminal care nursing provided according to the patients’ and families’ wishes]. Factors associated with the causes were: Observing the provision of care that respects individuality, observing how adjustments are made to incorporate the patient’s wishes and the patient’s conditions, guidance by the instructors, guidance by the home-visit nurses, and interests before the practicums.

〔Conclusions〕By observing nursing care that respects the individuality of patients and their families, the nursing students likely learned many essential lessons during the practicum training at home-visit nursing stations. In addition, the instructors deepened the students’ learning by attaching meaning to their experiences.