Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Students’ perception of problems and benefits of night shift nursing internship: A qualitative study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Farhad Bahramirad
. Narjes Heshmatifar 1
. Mostafa Rad 2

1 Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Iranian Research Center on Healthy Aging, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran

2 Department of Nursing, Nursing and Midwifery School, Iranian Research Center on Healthy Aging, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Recently, the night shift is included in the curriculum of nursing internship students.
However, this shift is associated with some problems and benefits for students, which have been
assessed in limited studies. This study aimed to discover and describe the problems and benefits
of the night shift for nursing internship students.
METHODOLOGY: This qualitative method was carried out with the conventional content–analysis
method. In total, 15 seventh‑semester and eighth‑semester nursing students at Sabzevar University
of Medical Sciences, Iran, were selected by purposeful sampling. Data were collected using in‑depth
semi‑structured interviews about students’ perceptions of night shift problems and benefits. In addition,
data analysis was performed applying the conventional content–analysis technique.
RESULTS: In this study, seven main categories were extracted, five of which included problems
such as exploitations, being an outsider, moral distress, learning deficits, and annoyance. The other
two categories were benefits including gaining new experiences and independence.
CONCLUSION: The problems related to the students were the nursing personnel and the educational
system of hospitals, which can be dealt with through the interaction of the educational system with
hospitals managers in order to clarifying the role of students, fair division of work, and making
educational resources available. Moreover, gaining new experiences and independence are among
the benefits of the night shift for students, the continuation of which is in favor of nursing education.

Keywords

Internship and residency
nursing
shift work schedule
students 
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 10, Issue 10
October 2020
Pages 1-8

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