Being There: Prelicensure Students' Perceptions of Nursing Presence During Clinical Learning Experiences

Background: Nursing presence is defined as the physical and emotional availability of the nurse to the patient. Intentional presence is essential to person-centered nursing care. Increased use of technology during care could potentially threaten the humanistic connection between the nurse and patient. Few studies have explored presence from a student perspective. This study explored prelicensure nursing students' perceptions of nursing presence during a clinical learning experience. Method: Nursing presence as an intervention was discussed during the first-level medical-surgical nursing course. Students ( N = 32) answered open-ended questions about their perceptions of nursing presence during their clinical learning experience. The 12 items from the Presence of Nursing Scale-RN Being With subscale served as the codebook to guide the analysis. Results: Students identified 106 examples of nursing presence, representing all 12 items on the Being With sub-scale. Conclusion: Teaching students about nursing presence can serve as the foundation for person-centered nursing care.