Effect of Internship Program on the Caring Nurse-Patient Interaction

Background: Nursing-patient interaction, which has a significant effect on the healthy/ill individual, is not a simple relationship process, but it is an interpersonal process which is planned and developed in line with the objectives of nursing care. Objective: This study was conducted to determine the effect of internship training on the nurse-patient interaction. Methodology: A semi-experimental design with pre- and post-test and no control group was used in the study. The data were collected before and at the end of the 15-weeks long internship program. The data was analyzed with Wilcoxon signed ranks test, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskall-Wallis H Test and Spearman's rho Correlation Coefficient, when the variables distribution was not normally. McNemar's test was used on paired nominal data. Significance level was accepted asp < 0.05. Results: There was a significant difference between the students' pre- and post-test mean scores on the dimensions of importance, competence and feasibility after the internship program (p < 0.05). Conclusions: It was found that the care-focused nurse-patient interaction levels of intern nursing students who provided cared for their patients during clinical practices got positively affected. The study contributes to establishing clinical environments that support practice areas and provide integration with education.