Stressors Among Intern Nursing Students During Their Clinical Internship Training at Jouf University in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Nursing has been labeled as a high-stress profession. Transitioning from a student to a recent graduate can be overwhelming and a "reality shock." Novice nurses face unique stressors that are not shared by other nurses, and they are currently most irritated by others' lack of consideration and concern. Aim: To determine Stressors among intern nursing students during their clinical internship training at Jouf university in Saudi Arabia. Design: Cross sectional descriptive research design was utilized in this study. Settings: Data were gathered from intern nurse students of Colleges of Applied Medical Sciences in Jouf university: Al-qurayyat, Sakaka Colleges during the academic years 1440-1441 and 1441-1442. Methods: 80 intern nursing students from collage of applied medical sciences were included in the study. The current data collected by using an online self-administered (Intern nurse’s stress questionnaire). Results: This result indicated that intern nurses perceived high to extreme level of stress. Among the three stress subscales; work management was perceived as the highest reported level of stress followed by interpersonal relationships. Conclusion: Moderate to high stress is perceived among large proportion of intern nurses. Major stressors of interns were related to work load management, followed by interpersonal relationship. Recommendations: A critical need to strengthen the internship program for nursing students at Jouf University to address stress, its sources, consequences, coping strategies, an internship program with well-defined policies and procedures should be facilitated through a collaborative effort between hospital and college administrators.