| Background and objectives:Nurses shortage is still a global problem. Lack of professional commitment by the nurses, nursing student attrition is exaggerating the situation which can directly affect the quality care provided to the patient. Disparity in the theory and clinical practice has been identified as one of the reason of not continuing the profession in many studies. Nurse self concept has been identified as one of the driving force for job satisfaction. However, we are unaware about effect of internship on the nurse self concept, caring behavior and professional commitment among the nursing students over a period of time. Thus a comparative longitudinal study design was used to assess the effect of clinical experience on the nurse self concept, caring behavior and professional commitment among the final year nursing students of diploma and bachelor level.Methods:A tertiary hospital was randomly selected in Changsha city. Final year nursing students (n=115) doing their internship in this tertiary hospital were randomly selected and then grouped into two strata of diploma and bachelor. A valid set of Chinese questionnaires were used as a measurement tool. The data was collected at two sets of time at an interval of eight months. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS16.0version. Descriptive, Independent and paired t-test and linear regression was done to assess the nurse self concept, caring behavior and professional commitment of these nursing students before and after clinical internship.Results:96.5%of the respondents were female with the mean age of20.5yrs.54.8%of the respondents were diploma level of nursing students (n=63) and45.2%were bachelor level of nursing students (n=52). The mean score of nurse self concept, caring behavior measurement and professional commitment is higher after their clinical internship among all the nursing students. There is a significant difference in the professional commitment between the diploma and bachelor level of nursing students both pre (t=5.293, p<0.01) and post (t=3.620, p<0.01) clinical internship but no significant difference in the caring behavior measurement and nurse self concept mean score. Similarly, there is no any significant difference in the mean score of nurse self concept, caring behavior and professional commitment within the group regardless of clinical internship. However, factors like educational background, being a class leader, personal interest in nursing, perceiving nursing as a challenging profession, involvement in social service, course arrangement satisfaction, teacher’s care, nurses value in hospital, internship satisfaction and clinical teacher’s care in association with clinical internship has been identified to be correlated with the nurse self concept, caring behavior and professional commitment among the nursing students of diploma and bachelor level.Conclusion:The educational level as well as clinical internship played a vital role in the professional commitment between the nursing students. The mean score of all the three variables seems to increase after the clinical internship which is statistically significant for the professional commitment only. Though participants were satisfied with their clinical internship and clinical teaching it is statistically not significant for the nurse self concept and caring behavior probably because of limited sample size, data collection from one hospital only and the questionnaire were related to assess the perception of the particular situation rather than assessing the practice of the particular situation. However, clinical internship in association with other factors have positive as well as negative correlation with the nurse self concept, caring behavior and professional commitment. Thus a large sample size study is recommended in the future as well as attitude regarding these aspects among these groups can provide a clear vision in future. |
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