The effect of student nurses' experiences over the Common Foundation Programme on their inferences of suffering

Poor pain assessment contributes to inadequate postoperative pain relief. S tudies in the U.S.A. suggest that nurse education might make students less sensitive to patients' experience of pain. This research examined this proc ess and the factors that influence it in the U.K. Two-hundred and seventeen students completed the Standard Measure of Inferences of Suffering Questio nnaire (SMIS) before and after their Common Foundation Programme (CFP). The ir inferences of psychological distress increased as studies in the U.S.A. had found but, unlike these studies, no change was found in their inference s of pain. These findings have important implications for both nurse educat ion and the mechanisms to support student nurses in clinical practice. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.