[Opinions of student nurses and student care assistants concerning adequate care of a patient with dementia, and how to learn it].

The research investigated the views which the student nurses and the student care assistants had received from their studies concerning the care of demented patients. It also dealt with the opinions they had received about the good care of a demented patient. The data was gathered by interviewing 11 student care assistants and 14 student nurses who were to finish their studies within a month. The data was analyzed by using qualitative analytical methods. The student care assistants emphasized the care itself and the patient more than the student nurses did. The student care assistants emphasized the rehabilitation and the physical care. While evaluating their studies, the student nurses considered the teaching in the nursing school in a more negative way than the student care assistants. Both groups regarded the prevailing nursing practice as a difficulty in learning the good care of the demented patients.