Exploring nursing students’ reality shock and professional behavioral development in clinical practice: a hermeneutic phenomenological study

Nursing students face emotional challenges and cognitive changes during clinical practice. Clinical instructors should instill positive energy in these students through professional behavior. They should encourage students to observe, analyze, and reflect on the exemplary words and actions of clinical nurses and to obtain authentic feedback through patient interactions to refine their professional behavior. This study can serve as a valuable reference for clinical teachers in supervising nursing students entering clinical practice for the first time and helping them develop their professional nursing behavior.