Abstract

Title of the abstract: Phenomenological research exploring the lived experiences of students on the Blended Learning Nursing Programme at a University in the Northeast of England
Authors: Catherine Graham and Edel Mattocks
School: Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing: School of Nursing

Abstract
The Blended Learning Nursing programme at the focus of this research is one of seven blended learning nursing programmes in the country (3). The theoretical content of the course is delivered online, so students can access learning at a time that is convenient to them. Just over half of the course is clinical placement.

The programme design makes the clinical placement more accessible for students with family, caring or work commitments. Students spend 25-hours per week on placement during their clinical modules.

The reduced hours are made up to full-time using university-based Simulated Practice Learning (SPL) days approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (4). The SPL days include public carer patient involvement (PCPI) members. PCPIs are all people who have experience as patients or carers. The time spent with PCPIs practising communication and clinical skills under the supervision of practice assessors registered counts towards clinical placement hours.

The aim of this research was to explore the lived experiences of students on this innovative programme. This was achieved students by exploring the students’ successes and challenges, how the course impacted personal life, how online asynchronous work was managed and the experiences of clinical practice and SPL sessions.

An interpretive phenomenological approach was utilised (5), data was collected using semi-structured interviews (2), and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data (1). Thirteen participants were purposively recruited (1) from the cohort of students. Nvivo12PRO software was used to analyse the data and establish the salience and commonality of emergent themes.

Findings reveal all students voiced that they would not have been able to become nurses without the flexibility of Blended Learning. All students continued to have family, caring or employment responsibilities whilst enrolled. Students found ways to manage their time and learning and became independent learners. Disorganisation in the course was experienced as extremely difficult for students with existing significant responsibilities.

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Health Education England (HEE) (2022). Blended learning for pre-registration and undergraduate healthcare professional education. London: HEE. Available at: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/blended-learning [Accessed: 06 March 2024].
Nursing and Midwifery Council (2023). Simulated practice learning - The Nursing and Midwifery Council. [online] www.nmc.org.uk. Available at: https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/guidance/supporting-information-for-our-education-and-training-standards/simulated-practice-learning/.
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