Tiffany Hood is an Associate Professor of nursing at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. She has a highly varied nursing background and in the latter stages of her career has focused more on research. In this episode we talk about her research examining student nurses’ responses to critical incidents at work, to better understand their psychological reactions and help guide more effective preparation and post-event support. 

We discuss:

• The kinds of critical incidents student nurses may be exposed to at work (e.g. death, violence, severe injury and disability).
• How there is currently a lack of adequate preparation for student nurses to inform them of the realities of what they may witness.
• How many student nurses enter training with unrealistic expectations about critical events due to popular culture such as what is seen on TV or movies.
• Why providing student nurses with a space to reflect on a stressful or critical event is absolutely crucial.
• Why it’s important to factor in a student nurses’ life experience, such as prior trauma and mental health difficulties, when preparing them for rotations and clinical work.
• How student nurses’ reactions to critical incidents were completely varied, and why it should be stressed to other students that this is completely normal.
• Why staff and faculty should aim to build a trusting relationship with students, and how this benefits psychological coping in the event of a critical incident.
• Why it’s important to consider a number of processes and factors in understanding student nurses’ experiences and later adjustment or not, to a critical event. 
• Some tools and strategies for helping better prepare student nurses, which Tiffany currently working on.

You can find the article we discussed here: “Student Nurses' Experiences of Critical Events in the Clinical Setting: A Grounded Theory”

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