Abstract

Introduction: Clinical practices are an essential component of the nursing training program. Learning from the practice itself requires a habit that is acquired intentionally and sequentially. For this reason, a group of professors from the Nursing Career incorporated into the traditional hospital clinical practice of first year students, the reflexive diary as an effective instrument to help the reflection on the experience lived in the context of authentic clinical learning. Objectives: To know which were the perceptions and meanings that students expressed about their experience in in-hospital clinical practice. Material and Method: Qualitative research, the object of which was the reflexive diaries. Results: Thirty-five reflective diaries were analyzed, in which three categories of analysis could be identified: the hospital context related to acquired cognitive and procedural learning; interpersonal relationships with caregivers, health team, mentors, peers; and the difficulties encountered regarding feelings, fears, anxiety and anguish when facing the hospital context, feelings that were freely expressed in the diary narratives. Conclusions: It allowed teachers to critically analyze clinical learning environments in light of content interpretation and literature review.