The findings reported in this article are from an exploratory
study of student nurses experiences of communication
in cross-cultural care encounters. The small sample,
drawn from one university, means that caution should be
exercised in drawing conclusions from the findings. It is
recognized that the education preparation and clinical
experience of the students who participated in the study
may be different from students at other universities and
this may be reflected in the findings. It is also acknowledged
that the experiences of the Swedish and immigrant
student nurses in the current study may not reflect the
experiences of other students of comparable ethnic background.
Nevertheless, many of the findings are supported
by the wider international literature examining crosscultural
care encounters in nursing. However, this study
contributes two new perspectives. It examines the experiences
of student nurses, as opposed to studies that have
focused on Registered Nurses, and, by considering the
experiences of immigrant nurses it draws out some
differences (albeit tentative) between these nurses and
their Swedish counterparts. Further research is needed to
see if the findings are transferable to student nurses in
other settings.