Medical students' perceived stress and perceptions regarding clinical clerkship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: It is important to ensure that both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of clinical education are maintained during the pandemic. Understanding students' views on clinical rotations and the extent of their perceived pandemic-related stress would thus be useful for designing and implementing effective clerkship programs. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate perceived stress and perceptions regarding clinical clerkship among incoming clinical students (third year) and senior clinical students (fourth year) during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: After completing orientation programs at the beginning of the academic year, we surveyed students on their perceived stress, their general perspectives regarding the appropriate scope of clinical clerkship, and their preferences regarding level of participation in clerkship. We examined the differences in stress and clerkship-related perceptions based on the students' study year and sex using independent t-test, chi-squared test, and Fisher's exact test. In addition, the influences of stress, sex, and study year on clerkship-related perceptions were examined using multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS: The independent t-test indicated that third-year students experienced lower stress than did fourth-year students. Clerkship-related perceptions also differed significantly between third- and fourth-year students. Multinomial logistic regression analyses on the scope of and participation levels in clinical clerkship revealed that third-year students had significantly lower odds of preferring a limited range of clinical rotations and lower engagement in clerkships compared to fourth-year students. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected clinical education and, consequently, medical students' inclination toward active participation in clinical rotations. It is thus essential to understand students' views and provide them with relevant intra-pandemic educational supports.

Cyberbullying, student nurses' ethical awareness and the Covid-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The global COVID-19 pandemic has increased cyber communication, causing nursing students' clinical practice to be held in cyberspace. Thus, it is essential to ensure that nursing students develop comprehensive cyber ethics awareness. Moreover, cyberbullying is becoming more widespread and is an increasingly relevant new concept. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the experiences of cyberbullying among nursing students during clinical practice and determine the effects of cyberbullying victimization and cyber environments on their cyber ethics awareness. RESEARCH DESIGN: Data for this descriptive cross-sectional study were collected in July 2020 using a self-reported questionnaire and analyzed using hierarchical regression. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: The study included data from 291 nursing students with more than 6 months of clinical experience who were enrolled in two nursing universities in two cities in South Korea. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: This study was conducted after obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Board of G University. Written, informed consent was obtained from all participants. RESULTS: Cyberbullying victimization experiences during clinical practice were few. The most common cyberbullies of work- and person-related cyberbullying were nurses and classmates, respectively. DISCUSSION: Cyber ethics awareness was affected by cyber anonymity and the perceived seriousness of cyberbullying; cyberbullying related to clinical practices was a new factor that significantly affected cyber ethics awareness. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitals and nursing universities should develop a multi-dimensional, comprehensive, and effective nursing intervention education program to be integrated into the nursing curriculum to enhance cyber ethics awareness and reduce cyberbullying of nursing students.