Giving students the confidence to take part.

This article discusses whether nursing students can gain confidence and become accepted as members of the team in their first clinical placement. The topic emerged from a study looking at the experiences of a cohort of diploma-level nursing students undertaking a general training programme. Six 45-minute interviews were conducted in a large teaching hospital in Dublin. The results indicated that by demonstrating procedures repeatedly nurses can accelerate a student's ability to become a productive member of the ward team.