Background: Nursing students who undergo undergraduate education are trained theoretically and practically to become licensed nurses. During the work-based part of the education, nursing students meet patients in the health care system and are expected to provide the patient with good and safe care. Problem: Analysing patients' experiences on whether nursing students provide good-quality care by promoting health and reducing suffering. Purpose: The purpose was to describe the patient's experience of being cared for by nursing students. Method: A general literature review based on eleven scientific articles, where a majority were of a qualitative approach. Results: The patient's experience of the care provided by nursing students was largely positive. The patient described nursing students as caring, interested and responsive, and willing to communicate and spend time together. In some cases, the experience was negative, and the patient could experience a lack of trust in the care provided by nursing students. Emotions such as anxiety and dissatisfaction could also occur when nursing students acted with uncertainty or had insufficient communication skills. Conclusion: By contributing knowledge about the patient’s experience of care provided by nursing students, the understanding of the phenomenon can increase and lead to improved care. This is done by taking advantage of what is experienced positively and improving what is experienced negatively by the patient.
Keywords: Care, Experience, Patient, Student nurses, Work integrated learning