The “lifeworld” of Malawian undergraduate student nurses: The challenge of learning in resource poor clinical settings

Background: In the ‘‘lifeworld’’ of student nurses, the clinical learning experience is indispensable. It plays a vital role in preparing them for their future nursing career. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the students’ perceptions of their clinical learning experience, in view of the problems prevalent in the various clinical settings that are used as teaching hospitals. Design: This was a hermeneutic phenomenological study and the setting was a university nursing college in Malawi. The sample was selected purposively, consisting of thirty participants. Conversational interviews were conducted to obtain participants’ accounts of their clinical learning. A framework developed by modifying Colaizzi’s procedural steps guided the phenomenological analysis.