Critical incidents in undergraduate nursing students: Exploring feelings, thoughts and emotional regulation strategies in a qualitative research

Background: Critical incidents refer to the unpredictability inherent in the clinical learning settings, which might make nursing students risk long-term negative consequences on their psychophysical health and intention to go on with their studies. Aim. This study aims to explore the feelings, thoughts and emotional regulation strategies performed by nursing students when experiencing critical incidents. Design: A qualitative descriptive approach was performed to achieve the study's aim. Settings. The study was carried out at a Northern Italian University's Faculty of Nursing. Participants. Seventy-one nursing students, attending the third year and following an undergraduate nursing program were involved. Methods. A qualitative content analysis was conducted to develop an in-depth understanding of the experiences of perceived critical incidents during their clinical practices Results: Content analysis identified two main domains defining critical incidents that occurred 1) “because of the patient” 2) and “because of the clinical learning environment.” Conclusions: Our study highlights that nursing students perceived as “critical” different situations of the practice experience, which deal with patients, the families and the clinical environment. A particular role was played by the emotional component. Nursing educators are called to consider it with particular attention and to promote adequate interventions.