Nursing theory encourages students to gain skills in critical thinking and to understand clinical principles. But spending more time in actual health care settings helps a nursing student to gain clinical thinking skills. Registered nurses are required to provide care to patients with multiple health issues and to provide intensive care. Spending more time in these complex patient care situations readies the registered nurse for the demanding tasks of his profession.
The structure and organization of a health care system is characterized by interaction between the management, fellow staff and patients. The registered nurse needs to fit appropriately into this system and to understand her role with fellow staff and patients. Acquiring practical experience introduces registered nurses to the real organizational processes of a health care system such as financing, administration, dealing with management and other staff.
Spending more time on clinical work can cause nursing students to rethink their prejudices against certain medical conditions. This prepares registered nurses to provide patient care in a more professional way and with no bias against the conditions of their patients. For example, learning about mental health theory without spending enough time caring for mental health patients could prevent a new registered nurse from coping with the demands of such a patient. Previous extensive hands-on experience can change a nurse's attitude, thus helping him to cope better at his work.
Clinical anxiety is especially experienced by new registered nurses. It results from inadequate clinical experience and the fear of making mistakes in a real clinical setting. Spending too much time on theory and too little on experience could result in a theory-practice gap. But giving more time for clinical experience prepares registered nurses to undertake sensitive patient-care duties without the fear of making mistakes.