Introduction: The medical profession is acknowledged as one of the most stressful. The time devoted to acquire knowledge and practical skills is a source of stress for students, but also an opportunity to learn how to deal with it. Aim of the research: To assess how medical students deal with stress during their first clinical practice. Material and methods: The study was conducted in a group of 526 students of: nursing, physiotherapy, medical rescue, and obstetrics at a university. The research tools included: an original questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Stress Management Inventory. The dependence between variables was established using the Spearman's rank correlation. A significance level of α = 0.05 was assumed in the tests. Results: Almost half of the students experienced high levels of stress, and more than half of them manifested high levels of self-efficacy. The participants dealt with difficult situations mainly by active coping, planning, and seeking instrumental support. The paramedics and the midwives more often turned to active coping than did the physiotherapists. Younger people were more inclined to choose strategies associated with seeking support (rho =-0.134, p = 0.001). It was shown that strategies of managing difficult situations based on helplessness were more often followed by older people (rho = 0.126, p = 0.002). The greater sense of self-efficacy in the participants, the more often they chose active stress coping strategies. Conclusions: Active stress management strategies should be developed in students also to strengthen their sense of selfefficacy. Streszczenie Wprowadzenie: Wykonywanie zawodów medycznych uznawane jest za jedno z najbardziej stresujących zajęć. Czas poświęcony na zdobywanie wiedzy i umiejętności praktycznych jest również źródłem stresu dla studentów kierunków medycznych, a także okazją do nauczenia się, jak sobie z nim radzić. Cel pracy: Ocena, w jaki sposób studenci kierunków medycznych radzą sobie ze stresem podczas pierwszej praktyki klinicznej. Materiał i metody: Badanie przeprowadzono w grupie 526 studentów: pielęgniarstwa, fizjoterapii, ratownictwa medycznego i położnictwa. Narzędzia badawcze obejmowały: autorski kwestionariusz ankiety, Skalę odczuwanego stresu i Inwentarz radzenia sobie ze stresem. Zależność między zmiennymi ustalono za pomocą korelacji rang Spearmana. W testach przyjęto poziom istotności α = 0,05. Wyniki: Prawie połowa studentów doświadczyła wysokiego poziomu stresu, ponad połowa z nich miała wysoki poziom poczucia własnej skuteczności. Studenci radzili sobie ze stresem poprzez aktywne zarządzanie, planowanie i poszukiwanie instrumentalnego wsparcia. Ratownicy medyczni i położne częściej podejmowali aktywne formy radzenia sobie niż fizjoterapeuci. Osoby młodsze były bardziej skłonne wybierać strategie związane z poszukiwaniem wsparcia (rho =-0,134, p = 0,001). Wykazano, że osoby starsze częściej stosowały strategie radzenia sobie z trudnymi sytuacjami oparte na bezradności (rho = 0,126, p = 0,002). Im większe było poczucie włas...

Introduction: The first clinical experience of nursing students is of great importance in their professional development and the formation of professional competence. The education process is a stressful experience. This is due to the large emotional commitment, responsibility for health and life, and struggling with the problems of patients. To fully benefit from this experience, it is necessary that students successfully cope with stress. Aim of the research: To assess patient-related stressors and coping behaviours of nursing students during clinical practice. Material and methods: The study was conducted among 786 first-year nursing students at universities in southern Poland in 2015 and 2016. Diagnostic survey and evaluation methods, as well as surveying and scaling techniques, were used, and the research tools were of the demographic characteristics form-Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Inventory for Coping with Stress (Mini-COPE) to measure coping with stress. Verification of differences between variables was made using the Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test. The relationship between variables was determined by calculating the Spearman rank correlation and multidimensional logistic regression. The adopted level of significance was α = 0.05. Results: Nursing students struggled with many difficult situations and experienced moderate to severe stress, presenting a variety of different coping strategies. As the stress level increased, the frequency of coping with difficult situations by using avoiding behaviour increased (rho = 0.195; p < 0.0001). Students in difficult situations more often relied on problem-focused strategies rather than emotion-focused strategies. Conclusions: It is advised that nursing students develop active ways to deal with difficult situations, especially those students displaying helplessness and avoiding behaviours. Streszczenie Wprowadzenie: Pierwsze doświadczenie kliniczne studentów pielęgniarstwa ma ogromne znaczenie w ich rozwoju profesjonalnym i kształtowaniu kompetencji zawodowych. Proces edukacji jest stresującym doświadczeniem. Wynika to z dużego zaangażowania emocjonalnego, odpowiedzialności za zdrowie i życie oraz zmagania się z problemami chorych. Aby w pełni korzystać z tego doświadczenia, studenci muszą skutecznie radzić sobie ze stresem. Cel pracy: Ocena czynników stresujących związanych z pacjentem i sposobów radzenia sobie ze stresem studentów pielęgniarstwa podczas zajęć praktycznych. Materiał i metody: Badania przeprowadzono wśród 786 studentów pierwszego roku kierunku pielęgniarstwo (południowa Polska). Zastosowano metodę sondażu diagnostycznego i szacowania, technikę ankietowania i skalowania. Narzędziami badawczymi były: autorski kwestionariusz w formie ankiety, Skala odczuwanego stresu oraz Inwentarz do pomiaru radzenia sobie ze stresem. Weryfikacji różnic między zmiennymi dokonano za pomocą testu niezależności χ 2 , testu Manna-Whitneya oraz Kruskala-Wallisa. Związek między zmiennymi określono przez obliczenie korelacji rang Spearmana i wielowymiarowej re...

Introduction: Contemporary healthcare faces new challenges and expectations from society. The profession of a nurse, as well as a paramedic, is essential for the efficient functioning of healthcare. It has its importance not only in promoting and preserving health but also in prevention. With the increasing importance of providing medical care at the highest level, it is expected of these two professional groups to have more knowledge and skills than a few years earlier. The daily contact with patients and their families, the low level of control of the environment, the hierarchical system of professional dependence, and the dissatisfaction with remuneration are becoming extremely burdensome aspects of the nursing and paramedic professions. Long-term exposure to stressors associated with these medical professions may, in the long term, lead to the emergence of occupational burnout syndrome. The aim of this study is an attempt to answer the question of whether and how stress factors affect the occurrence of occupational burnout in the work of nurses and paramedics working in various medical entities. Material and Methods: The study covered a group of 434 respondents, including 220 nurses and 214 paramedics, working professionally in hospital departments and care and treatment facilities as well as in hospital emergency departments and ambulance services. The study was carried out using a diagnostic survey based on the questionnaire technique using the authors’ questionnaire and the standardized MBI Ch. Maslach. Two statistical values were used to statistically analyze the research results and verify the adopted hypotheses: the chi-square test and the Student’s t-test. Results and Conclusions: The current study showed that the phenomenon of occupational burnout among the studied group affects only nurses, while this problem does not apply to the studied paramedics. The main stressor among the nurses and paramedics is, above all, a very high level of responsibility. Nurses are overburdened by excessive demands and shift work, while paramedics are mostly burdened by an excess of duties. Both nurses and paramedics claim that their work is often stressful, which leads to physical and mental exhaustion.

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IntroductionThe world pandemic of the virus SARS-CoV-2 , which causes COVID-19 infection was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. Due to the restrictions that were introduced in order to minimize the spread of the virus, people more often suffer from stress, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. The aim of this study was evaluation of the stress levels and sleep disorders among nursing students during the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 .Materials and Study MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study conducted among 397 nursing students on March 2020. The research tools used were original questionnaires, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS10), and the Athenian Insomnia Scale (AIS), as well as Coping with Stress Inventory (MiniCOPE).ResultsRespondents felt a high level of stress, which occurred in 68.8% of interviewees regarding whether there was a danger of contracting COVID-19. Respondents experienced 84% stress levels when a family member suffered from COVID-19. Sleep disorders were determined mainly by the fear of infection and contact with someone who might be infected with the virus. Nursing students who felt a high level of stress often suffered from sleep disorders (70.2%) more frequently than students who felt a low or average stress level (30.4%). The respondents decided to cope with stress by denial, taking psychoactive substances, ceasing action, or blaming themselves. The greater the intensity of stress experienced by students, the more often they undertook avoidance behaviors or showed helplessness.ConclusionDuring the pandemic, students experienced severe stress, which resulted in sleep disorders and avoidance behaviors.