Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of clinical nursing instructors’ lived experience in
clinical practicum. Methods: Data were collected from 11 clinical nursing instructors by in-depth interviews. The
data were analyzed using content analysis of Downe-Wamboldt (1992). Results: Four themes and twelve subthemes
were extracted. 1) Recognizing and conducting the roles of clinical nursing instructor: ‘Helping and providing
support for successful clinical practicum’, ‘Coordinating clinical activities in daily practice’, ‘Providing mentoring
as an elder in life’; 2) Participating in improving integrative nursing competency: ‘Helping to improve cognitive
competency’, ‘Helping to improve functional competency’, ‘Contributing to form desirable professionalism’,
‘Helping to deliberate the nature of nursing’; 3) Experiencing difficulties in performing the role of clinical nursing
instructor: ‘Facing with difficulty from institutional limits’, ‘Recognizing difficulty from lack of personal knowledge
and experience’; 4) Experiencing value of clinical nursing instructor and accomplishing personal growth: ‘Making
efforts to widen personal knowledge and experience’, ‘Developing one’s own educational competency’, ‘Making a
chance to reflect oneself’. Conclusion: Despite the distinctive features of clinical nursing instructors, little is known
of the characteristics. The results of this study could be used as a reference to improve the quality of clinical
nursing education.