PERCEPTIONS OF THE NURSING PROFESSION AND ACADEMIC AS WELL AS WORK-RELATED STRESS AMONG NURSING STUDENTS IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Background: Healthcare quality stands as a fundamental priority for governments together with providers and consumers. The delivery of healthcare services depends on how healthcare professionals view their work and the extent of academic and work-related stress they experience during their training. There is a shortage of research about nursing students' views of their profession and their stress levels in Punjab. Methods: The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey to evaluate nursing students' views about nursing as a profession and their academic and work-related stress levels in three private nursing institutions of Lahore (Akhtar Saeed College of Nursing, Al-Aleem Institute of Nursing and Ittifaq College of Nursing). The study involved 200 students who participated through purposive sampling. The researchers collected data through a structured self-administered questionnaire which they analyzed using SPSS version 26.0 for descriptive and bivariate statistical analysis. Results: The majority of students maintained positive views about nursing with an average perception score of 71.6 ± 5.3 and almost all students agreed that nursing provides a chance to help humanity (91%) yet only half believed nursing received equal status as other health professions (52%). The students experienced high academic stress which reached 48.3 ± 8.8 due to examinations and workload but work-related stress averaged 19.7 ± 4.8 and death and dying and uncertainty in patient treatment were the most stressful aspects. The study revealed significant correlations between stress levels and student demographic characteristics including training level (p = 0.001), age (p = 0.018), parental education (p < 0.05) and hospitalization experience (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Nursing students in Punjab maintain favorable opinions about their profession yet experience substantial academic and work-related stress which requires proper coping mechanisms from educators and facilitators.