Background
The recent reforms in the health care sector have changed the requirements for professional nursing competence in the clinical field. The reforms have also required nursing education to consider different areas for clinical placements for their students, and outpatient units in hospitals have been increasingly formalized as clinical learning environments. The complex technologies in some of these units represent a challenge for students who have limited existing knowledge or experience. More focus on outpatient care has also led to fewer opportunities for studying the continuity of a patient’s life situation. In order to meet these challenges, structured learning activities with special forms were developed by nursing educators and nurses at outpatient units. The aim of this study was to explore students' experiences of using structured learning activities as unit-specific learning outcomes and targeted reflection during clinical placements in an outpatient unit.