Clinical Training Stress Inducing Factors among Intern Nurses in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Improving the quality of clinical training among intern nurses (INs) requires provisionof suitable educational environment and one of its requirements is determination of the stressinducing factors. Objective: To identify the clinical training stress inducing factors amongINs in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Setting: The study was carried out in NICU atEl-Shatby Maternity University Hospital, Alexandria University. Subjects: The subjects ofpresent study comprised of 140 INs providing care for neonates admitted to NICU. Tools:Three tools were used to collect necessary data, namely, Characteristics of INs StructuredInterview Schedule, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and Intern Nurses Stress FactorsStructured Questionnaire. Results: The study revealed that more than half (52.1%) of INs hadmoderate stress level. Discrepancy between theory and practice was the most perceivedacademic stress factor among the majority of INs (90.0%). While, public opinion about nurseswas the most perceived personal stress factor among 98.6% of INs. Moreover, criticism bypreceptor was the most perceived interpersonal stress factor. Furthermore, providing care formany neonates at the same time was the most clinical stress factor among INs in NICU.Conclusion: It can be concluded that INs are confronted with multiple stress factors such as,academic, personal, interpersonal, clinical, environmental, and health care system.Recommendations: The main recommendation of current study was collaboration betweenhealth care institutions and preceptors should be assured in order to overcome stressinducing factors in NICU.