The psychological experience of nursing students in their internship year during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

The COVID-19 pandemic produced challenges and troubling issues in Saudi Arabia and worldwide. During the height of the pandemic, the psychological status of nursing students was complicated by challenges that affected their educational future. We used qualitative approach to explore the psychological status of 20 Saudi nursing students from Nursing College in their internship program during the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating their perceptions, experiences, and challenges. Thematic analysis methods were used to present the data as themes and subthemes. Themes that emerged during interviews revealed: Interns' experiences from the outbreak; Perceptions of students toward COVID-19; Mental distress associated with the situation; Level of support from either or both university authorities or hospital education and training departments; Financial challenges; and Readiness to complete a nursing internship. COVID-19 presented several challenges to Saudi nursing students in internship year including psychological distress in several aspects such as fear of infection for themselves and their families. However, this study findings do not apply to all nursing students as it only included nursing interns actively engaged in clinical practice. Additional studies are required to examine how the clinical practice of internships varied across the country during any epidemic situation.

Saudi Nurse Interns' Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Thematic Approach.

BACKGROUND: The learning process for nurses, including internships, was affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have made the nurse internship program more challenging and stressful for participants. Therefore, it is significant to explore the experiences of nurse interns during COVID-19. AIM: This study aimed to explore Saudi nurse interns' field experiences during the pandemic. DESIGN: The study utilised descriptive phenomenological qualitative research and a thematic approach. METHODS: A total of 19 nurse interns participated in the study, which was conducted in Saudi Arabia. Participants undertook an internship program at different government hospitals in five cities in Saudi Arabia. Unstructured individual interviews were conducted to gather data from the participants. RESULTS: The findings revealed five themes: being passionate, lacking knowledge and skills, being concerned about their families, being cautious, and being unoriented. CONCLUSION: The study findings document that the struggles of nurse interns in their internship programs during COVID-19 were related to their lack of knowledge, their family, and the working environment.

The relationship between nurses' risk assessment and management, fear perception, and mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

During this pandemic, it is crucial to implement early interventions to help nurses manage their mental wellbeing by providing them with information regarding coping skills, preventive risk assessment approaches (such as hospital preparedness and rapid risk assessment), and the ability to respond. This study evaluated the effect of fear and risk assessment management on nurses' mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. A total of 507 nurses who worked in tertiary public hospitals were asked to take a descriptive design survey. Three survey scales were used to assess the survey: the Risk Assessment Scale, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Independent t-tests and a one-way ANOVA were used to examine the association between fear of COVID-19 and nurses' demographic characteristics on their mental wellbeing. A multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the predictors associated with mental wellbeing. Findings revealed that almost half of the participants showed moderate positive mental wellbeing, 49.7%, while only 14% had low levels of fear on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well being Scale. Most of the respondents had low levels of fear on the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, 45%, while only 15% had high levels of fear on the scale. Then, some demographic variables, such as "age," "nationality," "total years of experience in the current hospital," and "region you work at" had statistically significant differences with p < 0.5. Meanwhile, risk assessment is also associated with mental wellbeing scores. All items on the Fear of COVID-19 Scale showed no significant difference with a P > 0.05. In conclusion, most nurses providing direct patient care to a patient with COVID-19 emphasized the importance of wearing PPE and performing hand hygiene before and after any clean or aseptic procedure. Meanwhile, although almost all nurses were vaccinated, they were still afraid of a COVID-19 infection. Additionally, the results reported that the older the nurses are, the better their mental wellbeing scores. Non-Saudi nurses had higher perceived mental wellbeing scores than Saudi nurses, and different working environments corresponded to different mental wellbeing scores. Finally, nurses' risk assessment was associated with mental wellbeing scores.

Awareness, Attitudes, Prevention, and Perceptions of COVID-19 Outbreak among Nurses in Saudi Arabia.

The newly discovered coronavirus (COVID-19) has become a pandemic, infecting thousands of people around the world. This study examines nurses' demographic information (age, gender, marital status, area of practice, total years of experience in the current hospital, work region, monthly salary, educational level, workplace, nationality, working hours per day, total nursing experience, and the respondents' main source of information on COVID-19), awareness, attitudes, prevention, and perceptions of COVID-19 during the outbreak in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional descriptive design of 500 nurses working at government and non-governmental hospitals in five regions in Saudi Arabia were selected using convenience sampling. The Kruskal-Wallis test was applied and the Mann-Whitney test was utilized as a post hoc test. The majority of nurses in this study, 96.85%, had excellent knowledge of COVID-19. Some (83.2%) of nurses reported significant prevention knowledge and treatment skills about COVID-19, while 7.6% had little knowledge about prevention. More than half of the nurses (60.4%) had high positive attitudes toward caring for COVID-19 patients. In conclusion, female nurses, married nurses, and bachelor's degree nurses had greater awareness, better attitude, and prevention clinical experience towards COVID-19. Meanwhile, non-Saudi nurses had higher self-reported awareness, positive attitudes, optimal prevention, and positive perceptions compared to Saudi nurses. This study provides baseline information immediately needed to enable health authorities to prioritize training programs that support nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.