Stressors in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction The coronavirus epidemic started in Tunisia on March 12, 2020. Nursing students in hospital internship are among the professional categories most exposed to the virus. Objectives To identify stressors during a COVID-19 pandemic among senior nursing students at the military health school. Methods Descriptive, retrospective study conducted in March 2021 of the 60 senior nursing students enrolled in the military health school. We developed a self-questionnaire with questions about potential stressors during a COVID-19 pandemic. Results Our population was 54.3% male and 45.7% female. The mean age was 22.6 years. Most of the senior students (54.3%) worked in units dedicated to the care of patients with COVID-19. The main stressors reported by the students were fear of seeing patients die (84%), contaminating family (81.4%), being assigned to a COVID unit (78%), lack of protective equipment (75%), catching COVID-19 (67%), contaminating colleagues (64%), delay in teaching (61%), lack of competence and making mistakes (53%). Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic is a time of major stress for nursing students. Psychological support should be provided. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Keywords

• Stress
• nurse student
• stressors
• Coronavirus