[Clinical learning in a university undergraduate nursing program in Italy: a descriptive study].

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to describe how undergraduate nursing students learn clinical skills.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is part of a larger study and was performed in January-March 2005 as a prevalence survey. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to all nursing students (n.172) enrolled in the undergraduate nursing program at the University of Udine (Italy).

RESULTS: The response rate was 83.1% (143/172). Relevant results of the study include the following: in 61% of cases (87/143) tutors asked each student, at the beginning of training, to make clear which skills and objectives had already been achieved; during training, students who had problems with writing out nursing records asked their tutor for help in 64.3% of cases (92/143); according to 17.5% (24/143) of students, the tutor's role should include encouraging students to be autonomous, teaching them to reason about problems and how to link theory with practice.

CONCLUSIONS: While keeping in mind that this study evaluates students' perceptions about their clinical training experience, we can state that tutoring methods were found to be sufficiently homogeneous and can be improved to become more efficient and meaningful.