PATIENTS TO PEOPLE

The ideas discussed in this paper are derived from a longitudinal stud y of student nurse socialization. The emergent views of a cohort of st udent nurses were explored by the researcher, over a period of 3 years , utilizing the approach referred to as grounded theory. 'Patients to people' represents a continuum of changing perceptions about those who m the students were nursing. It seemed that the cohort had to move alo ng this continuum in order for them to be able to empathize with those they nursed. In the context of the students' changing perceptions, se veral things were of significance. For example, encounters with indivi duals who failed to demonstrate the passive and compliant attitude ass ociated with 'typical patients', such as children, challenged the coho rt's thinking about those they nursed. During their training the stude nts matured as both nurses and adults and this was also important, as was their recognition of their own 'personhood'. The cohort's emergent views suggested that there was a reciprocity between the way they vie wed themselves and the perceptions they held about those they nursed. Such findings are important to people involved in preparing individual s to enter the caring professions. However, it should be noted that th e experiences described in this study represent those of 'traditionall y' trained rather than of Project 2000 students. The names used to des cribe people involved in this research are pseudonyms.