Exploring student nurse anesthetist stressors and coping using grounded theory methodology

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the challenges that recent graduates of nurse anesthesia programs coped with during their anesthesia curriculum from their perspective. The initial research questions for this study were: From the graduates'perspective, what were the stressors that they encountered during their nurse anesthesia program? And how did they successfully negotiate those stressors in order to graduate from their program? This phenomenon was studied using grounded theory methodology. The data were collected by individual, semistructured, in-depth interviews with 12 recent nurse anesthesia program graduates, from 5 different nurse anesthesia programs, who have been out of school for less than 2 years. This exploration into student nurse anesthetist stress and coping articulates 3 phases of development as these students progressed through their program. The phases are transitioning in (first 9 months of program), finding their way (9 to 18 months into program), and transitioning out (18 to 28 months into program). Coping mechanisms employed by the participants were problem focused, emotion focused, and a combination of the 2. Recommendations for action and future research are discussed.