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academies
March 04-05, 2019 | London, UK
European Nursing Congress
Journal of Intensive and Critical Care Nursing | Volume 2
Anxiety levels among first year university nursing students on starting clinical practice
Diana Njuguna
1
, Ann Chepkemoi
2
and
Naomi Wanyonyi
3
1
University of Pecs, Hungary
2
Kabarak University, Kenya
3
Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya
C
linical practice in nursing is a challenging experience for
many first-year nursing students. It has been found to
cause anxiety among beginning students resulting in feelings
of inadequacy to perform professional nursing skills. Students
often express a lack of knowledge and competence to take
care of patients in the clinical setting. In Kenya, the Bachelor of
Science in Nursing (BScN) students normally commence clinical
practice at the beginning of the second year after successfully
completing the basic science courses which are offered in
the first year of study. Students in the first year of study are
usually referred to as “pre-clinical” at some universities.
The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of
anxiety among pre-clinical nursing students anticipating to
begin their clinical practicum. A phenomenological qualitative
approach was used in this study. Structured interviews method
was used to obtain data from the selected respondents.
The study population comprised first year nursing students at
a private University in Kenya. A qualitative study design was
used to sample the thirteen students who participated in the
study. Purposive sampling was used until data saturation was
achieved. Data from interviews was analyzed thematically.
Theresultsindicatethatnursingstudentsexperienceconsiderable
anxiety when commencing clinical practice. This finding agrees
with other studies cited in literature. The anxiety levels could
be reduced by counseling, early exposure to the clinical
practice environments during the pre-clinical period. There is
need for open discussions with students regarding the real-
life clinical situations that will be encountered during practice.
e:
dianawangeshinjuguna@gmail.com