Nursing process from the student’s perspective: a qualitative approach

Abstract

During clinical training, students perceived difficulties in applying the nursing process as taught and established in Brazil by Resolution 736/2024 of the Federal Nursing Council. In light of this, there was interest in elucidating the facilitators and challenges faced by students during undergraduate studies. The objective was to uncover students’ perceptions of the theoretical teaching and practical application of the nursing process during supervised internship. This was a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study conducted between march and april 2024. Data collection took place through online interviews via the Microsoft Teams platform, following approval by the Research Ethics Committee (Opinion No. 6.644.807) and informed consent from participants. Seventeen 10th-semester undergraduate nursing students from a private higher education institution participated. At the end of data collection, the recorded interviews were transcribed for content analysis according to the framework of Laurence Bardin. Analysis of the discourse resulted in five thematic categories: learning difficulties; difficulties in practice; adaptations of theoretical teaching for greater proximity to practice; problems faced by nurses in applying the nursing process; and nursing care management. The findings highlighted a gap between theory and the practical application of the nursing process, both for students and professionals. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the theoretical approach through innovative teaching methodologies, optimizing the understanding of the use of this instrument and taxonomies in nursing practice.