Clinical stressors as perceived by first-year nursing students of their experience at Alexandria main university hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

backgroundClinical hospital stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic are one of the problems that affect the quality of education among first-year nursing students, particularly in the first 6 months of their practice.

objectiveAssess the types and severity of clinical hospital stressors among first-year nursing students and investigate the relationship between students' clinical stressors and their level of worry from COVID-19.

designA descriptive correlational research design. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria's main university hospital. The study included a convenience sample of 200 first-year nursing students. TOOLS: Socio-demographic and academic data of nursing students. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is used to assess the degree and type of stressors.

resultsThe highest reported types of stressors were stress from the clinical hospital (M = 13.54) and stress from a lack of professional knowledge and skills (M = 13). Concerning the overall stressors, all students experienced a severe degree of stress (M = 116.87). Furthermore, students' age, sex, number of study hours/week, number of assignments/week, and worry from COVID 19 were highly statistically significant with degrees of perceived stress as (p = 0.000, 0.030).

conclusionClinical hospital stressors had a significant negative impact on the majority of students' education in the hospital. As well as worrying about COVID 19, positively increased the perceived stressors of nursing students. RECOMMENDATIONS: Implement an educational program for the first-year nursing students about clinical hospital stressors during COVID-19 and trained them how they can cope with these stressors by using stress management.