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Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions, thoughts and clinical experiences of second-year nursing students about a neurosurgical intensive care unit (ICU).

Method: The population of this phenomenological qualitative study consisted of 21 second-year nursing students who received clinical training in a neurosurgical ICU of a university hospital. Data were collected by face-to-face and in-depth interviews in June 2018. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis, and 60 codes, 14 categories and five themes emerged in the data analysis.

Results: The mean age of the participants, most of whom were female students, was 20.7 years. The clinical training period of the majority of the students was three days. It was determined that the ICU environment, status of patients, attitudes of nurses and applied care interventions affected their clinical experience. The students stated that witnessing the death of a patient, not being able to communicate with an unconscious patient, and care interventions such as oral care and aspiration affected them emotionally. The majority of the students indicated that neurosurgical ICU was an essential area for clinical training and they wanted to work in this unit after graduation.

Conclusion: The results of the research revealed that neurosurgical ICU is an important and useful clinical environment for nursing education, but in this unit, some students experience severe anxiety that negatively affects their professional self-esteem.