Stressors experienced by student nurses during clinical placement in psychiatric units in a hospital

English: Psychiatric nursing students find themselves in a situation in which they are confronted by stressors in their personal and professional enviromnent, as well as stressors caused by their inexperience in psychiatric nursing. An exploratory study was conducted with the aim of discovering and describing possible stressors experienced by psychiatric nursing students during clinical placement in a psychiatric unit. The study had two objectives: firstly, to identify factors experienced by student nurses as stressful while working in psychiatric units and secondly, to recommend guidelines to minimise stress, for inclusion in the psychiatric clinical nursing curriculum. For the purpose of the study an unstructured interview was conducted with each participant during their first placement in a psychiatric unit to identify the factors experienced as stressful. The results indicated that all eight participants experienced average to high stress. Sources of stress identified included, among others, ineffective teaching and learning programmes, poor managerial governance of the service, detachment of professional nurses from their teaching role, poor relationships among staff, over-reliance on the medical model of care and patient neglect. Psychiatric nursing students sampled indicated universal support for in-service education and training for professional nurses, attitude change of professional nurses towards students, support for student initiatives, student involvement in patient care and adequate allocation of resources for patient care and nurse training. Arising from the findings, guidelines were established for the guidance of psychiatric nursing students. The exploration and description of stressors experienced by the psychiatric nursing students will help nurse educators plan clinical learning opportunities in such a way that they are less stressful, thus ensuring that psychiatric nursing students are equipped to utilise themselves as therapeutic instruments.