Failing a student nurse: a new horizon of moral courage

<p>The factors preventing registered nurses from failing students in practice are multifaceted and have attractedmuch debate over recent years. However, writers rarely focus on what is needed to fail an incompetent preregistrationnursing student in their final placement. This hermeneutic study explored the mentor experienceof failing a pre-registration nursing student in their final placement. A total of 19 mentors were recruited from7 different healthcare organisations in both inner city and rural locations in the southeast of England. Participantstook part in individual reflective interviews about their experience of failing a pre-registration nursingstudent in their final placement. These experiences were interpreted through a hermeneutic discovery ofmeaning. The new horizon of understanding which developed as a result of this research is framed within thecontext of moral stress,moral integrity and moral residue with the overall synthesis being that these mentors’stories presented a new horizon of moral courage.</p>