Learning to read the clinical environment: a qualitative exploration of social acuity and professional socialization among nursing students

Clinical practicum is a key context in which nursing students encounter the hidden curriculum of professional socialization. Social acuity, the ability to read subtle interpersonal, emotional, and contextual cues and adjust one’s behavior accordingly, has been described as important for adaptive clinical learning, yet little is known about how students experience and enact it during practicum. This study explored how nursing students experienced and enacted social acuity during clinical practicum, as articulated through the Korean term nunchi , and how they perceived these experiences in relation to professional socialization and their anticipated roles as nurses. This qualitative descriptive study used focus group interviews. Seventeen third- and fourth-year undergraduate nursing students in South Korea who had completed at least one semester of clinical practicum were recruited through notices distributed by nursing faculty at four universities. Four focus group interviews were conducted in Korean in December 2025, each lasting approximately 60–90 min. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: (1) entering an unfamiliar clinical environment as outsiders; (2) reading the clinical environment for survival and its costs; (3) from self-protective cue-reading to proactive learning; and (4) reframing social acuity as relevant to anticipated nursing roles. Social acuity in clinical practicum may be understood as a dynamic learning process shaped by the hidden curriculum, through which students navigate uncertainty, adapt to hierarchical clinical environments, gain access to learning opportunities, and engage in professional socialization. This process, however, was neither automatic nor equally accessible to all students: it unfolded without structured educational support and depended partly on students’ prior experiences. Nursing education may therefore need to support students more intentionally through psychologically safe learning environments, clearer expectations, interpretable feedback, and structured opportunities for reflection.