European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ANXIETY RELATED TO CLINICAL EXPOSURE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMICS AMONG NURSING STUDENTS OF KATHMANDU VALLEY

Mrs Shova Shrestha*, Mrs. Saraswati Shrestha, Mrs. Shraddha Shakya, Mrs. Jayanti Gautam, Mrs. Laxmi Khanal and Mrs. Mithu Saud

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a public health emergency which is spreading all over the world. Frontline health care providers who are facing tremendous psychological distress that has traumatic experience for nurses globally. Nursing students as part of the frontline health workers has highly prevalent of anxiety in normal circumstances also. But this pandemic led to a strong reactions among nursing students who experiences anxiety. Hence, this study aimed to assess the Anxiety Related to Clinical Exposure during COVID-19 Pandemics among Nursing Students of Kathmandu Valley. Methods: Descriptive, Cross-sectional study research design was used to assess the anxiety related to clinical exposure during COVID-19 pandemics among 216 nursing students of Kathmandu Valley through the probability lottery sampling technique from 29th April to 11th May 2021. A self-administered structured standard GAD-7 questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. Data were analysed in SPSS version 20 where descriptive statistical methods in terms of frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation whereas median, Mann- Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used for comparison. Likewise, Pearson's correlation was used for the relationship of level of anxiety and COVID Stressor. Results/ Finding: The result showed 41.67% had a mild level of anxiety, 18.98% had a moderate level of anxiety, 8.80% had a severe level of anxiety whereas 30.56% are normal among the respondents. However, there was a significant relationship between anxiety level and COVID stressors among nursing students. Besides, there were significant differences in respondent's median anxiety score regarding anxiety with education, training, and COVID Stressors of nursing students. Conclusion: Despite the challenging situation of the pandemic, this study reveals that the majority of respondents had a mild level of anxiety regarding COVID-19 among the respondents. However, training related to preventive measures, adequate supply of personal protective equipment and frequent assessment of mental status should be done to undergraduate students to protects them from the psychological burden of COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19, Anxiety, Nursing Students, Pandemics.