Introduction:
Professional challenges play a significant role in the formation of nursing students' professionalism in the internship stage, and their in-depth investigation can be very effective in improving the quality of learning and improving the skills of these students. This study was conducted with the aim of explaining nursing students' views on the organizational challenges of the internship program.
Methods & Materials:
This qualitative study was of analytic-content type, in which 12 nursing students of the internship program from different universities of medical sciences in Iran were purposefully selected (2021). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed through conventional content analysis using MAXQDA version 10 software. Also, for the accuracy of the study, the four criteria suggested by Guba and Lincoln were observed.
Results:
The professional challenges of students were extracted in two main categories of "Professional misconduct" with three subcategories of "exploitation", "inappropriate behavior" and "verbal harassment" and "college-clinic gap" with two subcategories of "lack of support" and " low coordination of training and clinic".
Conclusion:
Nursing internship students face two professional challenges, which investigation and identification can provide the basis for improving the clinical education environment of nursing internship students.