Nursing Students' Stress during Professional Internship at the Context of COVID-19: Causes and Management

Abstract

Relevance of the study. Stress is an important health issue. The new Covid-19 situation brought additional stressors especially to the health care system. There is a lack of important knowledge about what kind of stressors might affect nursing students' during their professional practice in the Covid-19 context and how they are able to manage the stress. Research aim: To identify the stress and stress coping factors among nursing students in their professional practice during Covid-19 pandemic as well as students’ personal experiences regarding professional practice. Tasks of bachelor`s thesis: 1. By analyzing literature identify Covid-19 related outcomes that occurs in the health care settings that nurses are vulnerable for. 2. To analyze nursing students, experience during their professional practice. 3. Identify most common stressors among nursing students in their professional practice during COVID-19 pandemic. 4. Reveal most common stress coping factors among nursing students in their professional practice during Covid-19 pandemic. Object: Nursing student’s stress during professional internship at the context of Covid-19 and it's management. Methods: 1. Scientific literature analysis. 2. Quantitative research method using a standardized questionnaire (online). Conclusions: In general, 70% of students perceive stress during their professional practice. The most common stressors during the practice are: fear of contracting infectious disease, staff shortages, heavy workload. The most common stress coping factor among nursing students during professional practice is seeking help from professional nurses, a quarter of students drink alcohol or smoke in order to relax. During students’ professional practice students were also afraid to get Covid – 19.