Clinical stress among undergraduate nursing students: perceptions of clinical nursing faculty

Clinical faculty have a critical role in recognizing the stress students experience in the clinical environment. Despite an increasing body of research on stress and student perceptions of stress, faculty perceptions of student stress have been relatively unexplored. A qualitative descriptive design provided a rich description of clinical nursing faculty perceptions of undergraduate baccalaureate nursing student stress in the clinical environment. Colaizzi's method guided data analysis. Four themes that emerged from the interview data were: feeling overwhelmed when encountering the unknown, which included the sub-themes of facing self-doubt and experiencing insecurity in nursing actions; struggling with personal life factors; enduring uncivil clinical interactions; and contending with nursing faculty interactions. This study assists in filling the gap for nursing education by providing a rich description of student stress as described by faculty. Implications include providing faculty a clearer understanding of the stress phenomenon so they may better educate and evaluate students.