Capturing, exploring and understanding the experiences of undergraduate student nurses undertaking a Pre-registration nursing degree course: An Experience Based Co-design study

Abstract

Background: Nurse education in the UK has undergone significant changes in the last few decades such as the move to an all-graduate profession, the introduction of self-funded
tuition fees and the new Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) education standards that change the way student nurses are supervised and assessed in clinical practice.
Uncertainties about how these changes may impact student recruitment, expectations and experience of their course abound. Understanding and improving the quality of the student experience may enhance retention and reduce attrition. Yet the experiences of Pre-registration (Adult) nursing students’ is under-researched in the UK.
Aims: To capture, explore and understand the experiences of students’ undertaking the Pre-registration (Adult) nursing course, and co-design potential improvements to future
experiences, through the application of an Experienced Based Co-design (EBCD) methodology.
Methodology: Using EBCD, a user design methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with student nurses (n=8), and emotional touchpoint mapping with student nurses (n=7) and key stakeholders (n=8) to gain insight into what shapes students’ experience on the nursing course. Findings were analysed using thematic analysis. EBCD aims to both understand and improve user experiences of a service by co-designing improvement strategies for that service. Therefore, two Co-design events were conducted that enabled students (n=7) and key stakeholders (n=11) to collaboratively produce priority recommendations for course improvement.
Findings: Students had varied experiences on the nursing course, both positive and negative, particularly with student support. Expectations of sufficient support was evident at
the beginning, and throughout the student’s journey of the nursing course and appeared to align with students’ sense of learner agency. Three priority recommendations for course improvement were identified from the findings including: facilitate and support student development of independent study skills, enhance student support in the clinical practice placement environment and clarify and enhance the role of the Academic advisor.
Implications: Findings from this study adds to existing but dearth research in the field of the Pre-registration (Adult) nursing student experience. It has highlighted areas for improvement on the Pre-registration nursing course that could impact future students’ experience. Furthermore, this study appears to be the first documented as using EBCD in a higher education setting with the foci on students, that enabled students and key stakeholders in the nursing course to co-design priority recommendations for course improvement.