Anxiety in nursing students regarding the first contact with the surgical area

Abstract

Introduction: Anxiety is part of human existence, every person feels a moderate grade of it, being that an adaptive response. In general, anxiety term alludes to the combination of different physical and mental manifestations that are not attributable to real dangers, but rather manifest themselves either in the form of a crisis or as a persistent and diffuse state, which can lead to panic. Objective: Determine anxiety in nursing students regarding the first contact with the surgical area. Materials and methods: The study was observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, with a quantitative approach. The population consisted of 53 nursing students by a probabilistic census sampling. The method was the survey, using the interview as a technique. The instrument was a questionnaire about the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, (STAI) of the spanish adaptation section study of TEA editions S.A., Madrid.  The data was tabulated on Microsoft Excel 2010 electronic spreadsheets, analyzed by Epi Info 7.2.0.1. Then tables and graphics were developed from the results elaborated in Microsoft Excel. The majority was between 19 and 20 years old. Results: The majority were between 19 and 20 years old. Predominance of the female sex, and the majority comes from urban areas. State anxiety was defined in the STAI classification as “Medium high” and “Very high” in more than fifty percent of the study subjects (58%). In the assessment of anxiety as a trait, it could be seen that the highest percentage was found in the “Medium low” category and in the “Very low” category, reaching almost fifty percent (49%). However, it could be seen that just over a quarter is in the “Very High” category (30%). Conclusions: Regarding anxiety as a state, it could be seen that they were categorized into “Medium high” and “Very high”; and in relation to anxiety as a state and in relation to anxiety as a state, the percentage in the medium-low and very low categories predominated, but a quarter of study subjects could be observed in the “Very high” category, which draws attention.