Smiles and Tears

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground: Admission into medical schools or other health-related professional schools has become increasingly competitive. As a result, many undergraduate students aspiring to become health care professionals volunteer or work in a health care setting to better equip themselves for the challenge. While there have been a number of papers written about the experiences of medical and nursing students, there is limited amount of literature regarding the experience of undergraduate students in clinical practice environments. Insight into their perspectives and roles could promote patient care and research.Goal: The purpose of the present qualitative study was to explore and describe the experience of being a clinical research student in an outpatient palliative radiotherapy clinic.Methods: Students who have worked as clinical research assistants at the palliative radiotherapy clinic were first asked to write responses to two open ended questions that were qualitatively analyzed for general themes. Su...