Determining the First Clinical Experiences and Fear of COVID-19 of the Students Who Took Their Surgical Nursing Clinical Practice During the Pandemic Period

Introduction: In addition to experiencing anxiety due to the first clinical practice, students also experience anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to determine the fear of COVID-19 during the first clinical experiences and experiences of students during the pandemic period.

Methods: The research was carried out using the mixed method. The study was conducted with second-year students (n=38) of a health-related university in Turkiye. The qualitative data were collected through semistructured interviews. The interview records were transcribed for the analysis of qualitative data and analyzed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological analysis method. The quantitative data were analyzed using numbers and percentages (%), minimum and maximum values, and mean±standard deviation (Mean±SD) values. Since the parametric conditions were met, Student’s t test was used to determine the difference between the two mean values.

Results: Of the students included in the study, 92.1% were females with a mean age of 21.00±0.89 years. The mean score of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale was 23.26±7.40 with a range of 8–35. Four themes were obtained from the qualitative data: pandemic-related experiences, first clinical experience, profession-related thoughts (professional role), and clinical supervision.

Discussion and Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the positive approach of the nurses and the support of university educators are effective in ensuring students embrace the profession and develop themselves professionally, in addition to emphasizing the importance of collaboration between the hospital and the university.

Keywords: Clinical experience; COVID-19; Nursing students