Evaluation of Surgical Nursing Intern Practice Program: Participatory Action Research

This study was conducted to develop and implement an effective learning process for students through the surgical nursing internship program. Research is in the type of participatory action research.

The sample of the study consisted of 33 students who were studying at the nursing faculty of a university and voluntarily chose the Surgical Diseases Nursing Intern Practice Course. The data were collected during the 14-week intern application period in the 2018-2019 academic year. The data consisted of student opinions and evaluations before and after the internship, various student assignments, academic success grades, and peer evaluations. In addition, the “Intern Students Clinical Learning Environments Evaluation Form” with 36 items and 6 sub-dimensions was used. The data were analyzed with appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods. Students are 5 males and 28 females. The themes of "personal development", "professional development", and "special expectations" were obtained from the opinions of the intern students before the clinic practice. The themes of "personal development", "professional development", and "limitations" were obtained from the opinions after ,the clinic practice. Students rated clinical learning environments in general and communication, learning opportunities, learning support, clinical atmosphere, nursing practices, and learning process areas as “quite appropriate” and “appropriate”. In accordance with the other data obtained from the study, the surgical internship program has revealed beneficial results for students with an effective learning process. It was concluded that the students found the clinical learning environments sufficient and appropriate after the clinical practice, achieved gains above their expectations, improved themselves professionally and personally, and the surgical nursing internship program was effective.

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