Nursing students' experiences during a rural community placement programme in Namibia--2001.

The reviewed nursing curriculum in Namibia incorporated issues related to Primary Health Care and diversification in the practical field for student nurses. This means that the students are exposed more to their communities than before. Nurses identify, manage and refer, if need be, the problems at this level. The curriculum facilitates and strengthens problem-solving skills and enhances the ability of nurses to adapt a comprehensive and family centred approach. The aim of this article is to describe the process of the rural placement of nursing students and to describe the experiences of the students as derived from the placement programme in districts in the central health directorate. Both positive and negative experiences are described. It is clear that the students have gained self-confidence in problem management. This article further confirms that learning experiences in the community setting is comparable to the hospital and other clinical learning settings in facilitating student's personal and academic development.