Views on nursing education in Portugal

Objective: to understand nurses’ perception of hospital care about nursing education. Methods: a qualitative study was carried out in 19 hospital institutions, with 56 nurses. For the data collection, the semi-structured interview was used and, in the analysis, the Atlas.ti® software. Results: these aspects emerged as units of analysis: positive and negative aspects of nursing teaching in a theoretical context; and positive and negative aspects of nursing teaching in a practical context. The perception of nurses about nursing education is essentially related to the existence of much diversified training processes. Conclusion: despite the evolution of nursing as a discipline and profession, nurses recognize that many of the weaknesses in nursing education are based on the differences between nursing schools, and the need for a closer approximation of theory to practice is evident, among other strategies, the follow-up of the students during the internships by the teachers of the School.