Nursing homes as learning environments: the impact of professional dialogue.

Nursing students' clinical experiences are important with respect to their impact on attitudes towards care for older people and preferences for future workplaces. The purpose of this paper is to explore how professional dialogue has an impact on nursing students' clinical learning and professional development in nursing homes. A qualitative design based on field work, field notes and qualitative research interviews was employed with 12 third year nursing students undergoing clinical practise in three nursing homes in Norway. The nursing students who participated in this study displayed positive attitudes towards older people. However, their experiences and perceptions of the learning environment in the nursing homes, varied. The nursing students expressed that a positive learning environment included participation in nursing care and professional dialogue to support their learning process and outcomes. Their primary wish was to develop their knowledge about care for older people through participation and dialogue as critical and reflective processes in a community of practise.