Practicum and Social Justice in Nursing

The practicum is one of the most important segments of the nursing curriculum since it prepares the students for actual practice and offers them an opportunity to use theoretical knowledge in real clinical practice. From a social justice perspective, the practicum moves from the acquisition of sets of skills to being a vehicle for addressing systematic injustices in the healthcare system (Boldt et al., 2021). In nursing, social justice is about distributing healthcare resources the right way, ensuring that vulnerable groups gain an entry point to healthcare, and addressing societal aspects that healthcare facilities influence. This paper explores how nursing students’ practicum placements assist them in advocating for fair health care by identifying their level of social justice awareness.

Understanding Practicum in Nursing

A nursing practicum is a type of clinical practicum that is mainly conducted in community health care centers, hospitals, or clinics and involves supervision by the nurse. It allows the students to practice what they are taught in the classroom in real-life situations while handling patients (Shida et al., 2022). Students interact with patients, and the students work with other students in other fields of study and observe real health facilities during this time. This experience-based learning is central to the enhancement of critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and communication abilities.

The student can also explore several areas of specialization during the practicum such as medical-surgical, pediatric, psychiatric mental health, and community health nursing (Koto et al., 2023). Through work experience in many places, they get acquainted with the apparatus of a wide range of patient groups, medical diseases, and care approaches. Such learning experiences prepare students to deliver high-quality care that is sensitive to the patients once they are in the workforce.

Social Justice in Nursing

What Nursing’s social justice proclaims is the equal and impartial distribution of health care resources and services. It is premised on the belief that a clean future of universal access to quality health should be availed to all patients no matter their color or nationality (Rudner, 2021). This is not just about lobbying for practices that are outside the consultancy and counseling domain but for laws and processes that erode health disparity, promote diversity, and address the social, economic, and environmental factors that define health.

Injustice in the healthcare system must be dealt with by nurses themselves they have to rise and stop the wrongdoings (Rudner, 2021). Advocacy for underprivileged and marginalized groups: Issues such as bias, discrimination, and unequal distribution of resources and healthcare are some of the issues that nurses can eradicate to ensure that all those vulnerable groups of people get the basic health care they deserve. Another part of social justice is understanding how life circumstances such as socioeconomic status, race, education, and the environment shape the health of a population and how to reduce the impact of those variables.

Integration of Social Justice in Practicum Experiences

The students in the nursing programs can physically observe the disparities in health and how the features of social determinants of health impact patients during the practicum. Students have exposure to community health centers which may be in urban areas, other larger hospitals, and rural health clinic (Crawford et al., 2022). These places make them encounter other people who may at times struggle to get healthcare due to issues such as poor economic status, language barriers or geographical isolation.

The students in nursing may develop insights into how systematic disparities can affect the patient’s health and the healthcare system in general from such instances. This is because people from low-income areas for instance are unable to afford to purchase prescription medicine or get preventive treatment, which may be detrimental to their health (Abu et al., 2023). It enables students to meet the patient during their practicum placement whereby they can learn how to embrace and advocate for quality health care services. Another way through which students can get an awareness of health advocacy is when they engage the health care practitioners to ensure fair treatment for all patients. The preceptors can help the students understand the biases of their treatments and facilitate conversations about strategies that would improve the health of minorities. Nursing programs prepare socially-justice-oriented nurses who are ready to promote equity in healthcare practice by incorporating social justice into clinical field experience.

Role of Educators and Institutions

The integration of social justice elements into practicum is a core responsibility of teachers and nursing schools and colleges. The goals of social justice in nursing practicum courses can be combined in that perception by nursing faculty members, who will help the students transform their thinking and realize systematic patterns influencing the results of health issues in the light of social and economic disparities (Wheeler et al., 2022). Techniques such as journaling or group discussions are other forms of reflection that may help the students to make sense of the scenarios and hence understand how disparities impact the delivery of patient care.

The partnerships with community organizations working with underprivileged populations may also enable institutions to provide students an opportunity to engage in service-learning projects on the socioeconomic factors affecting health. As part of these projects, one may need to collaborate with migrant clinics, homeless shelters, or health education-related organizations in disadvantaged regions (Iriarte et al., 2022). Through these relationships, students can learn how to advocate for such groups as well as get exposure to real health issues.

Institutions can also make sure that nursing students are capable of providing care that recognizes the cultural background of the patients through the practice of cultural sensitivity in practicum. The process of cultural competence also involves the knowledge of different health needs, practices, and attitudes of people with different economic statuses and origins.

Challenges in Promoting Social Justice in Practicum

While it is important to include social justice in nursing practicums, several challenges may arise. Some challenges are more specific; one of them is the limited number of practicum opportunities in low-income or diverse contexts (Handrup et al., 2024). They do this by, at times, providing the students with environments that isolate them from all forms of health inequalities that exist in society. This may neglect their ability to get a clear comprehension of social justice in the medical field for students.

A major challenge is the insufficient social justice principles content in preparation for preceptors. They are often responsible for guiding students’ practicum experiences, but if they do not possess the skills needed to address social justice issues then they do not take the opportunity to foster discussion on advocacy and equality (ZareKhafri et al., 2022). By so doing, preceptors can also be equipped with knowledge, guidance, and support if the social justice issue is to be taught to students. It may also be impeded by structural factors of institutions such as course rigor or exclusion of Nursing’s social justice training. The concept of social justice cannot be optional in nursing programs and ways to spaces that the problems that develop need to be sought to truly implement it in practicum experience.

Implications for Nursing Practice

Nursing students for instance may realize that how they join the professional practice is influenced by teachings they were trained on from their practicum. Nurses who are trained on aspects of inequalities in the health systems’ delivery have a greater potential to ensure that patients who encounter a barrier to care receive proper attention (Hartweg et al., 2022). Moreover, such nurses often participate in interdisciplinary teams to eradicate health disparities; develop and formulate policies, and promote equitable care practices within their practices. Implementing health equity and creating a better health system demands the espousal of social justice as a core professional value among nurses (Patel et al., 2022). They help to safeguard standards of care so that people needing support, for whatever reason, get the help they need~ they stand up for those in society who may be most at risk.

Conclusion

Nursing practicums are the best platform through which learners can test their skills and knowledge and command clinical roles. The selected clinical nursing experiences can assist nursing programs to prepare aspiring nurses to challenge systematic incivilities in health and other health-related socially unjust structures to advance health equity by nurturing social justice values and principles in the achievement of nursing goals (Slemon et al., 2024). When properly delivering nursing practice, it is necessary in a justice and equity manner to consider the various factors causing health disparities and show cultural sensitivity while offering care and encouraging advocacy for other people’s health. Thus, practicums based on social justice are critical in developing the next generation of nurses who will work towards improving the nursing care policies and healthcare system of the world.

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