Self-Confidence and Anxiety Levels of Nursing Students in the Decision-Making Process Related to Surgical Patient Care in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The self-confidence and anxiety levels of nursing students in making clinical decisions about patient care are important. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the anxiety and self-confidence of nursing students in the clinical decision-making process during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This descriptive and correlational study was conducted on nursing students in the spring semester of the 2021-2022 academic year at a state university in Turkey during the pandemic period. The research was carried out on 382 students who voluntarily participated. Data was collected using the Introductory Information Form and the Nursing Anxiety and Self-confidence with Clinical Decision-Making Scale (NASC-CDM). The SPSS software version 21.0 was used for data analysis. Independent samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare the data of the two groups. İn addition, the data were compared between more than two groups by one-way ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis-H test. Results: We observed that 77.72% of the participants were female, with a mean age of 21.120 ± 1.118 years, and 70.7% were third-year students. More than half of the students reported that preventive measures against COVID-19 were taken sufficiently in surgical clinics. It was found that the mean self-confidence score was 113.68 ± 26.18 (range: 27.00 - 162.00), and the mean anxiety score was 65.53 ± 27.37 (range: 27.00 - 162.00). There was a statistically significant difference between the scale score mean and the characteristics of the students, such as class level, the reason for choosing the department of nursing, the desire for graduate education, COVID-19 history, fear of contracting COVID-19, follow-up of surgical patients with positive COVID-19 test (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it was found that nursing students’ self-confidence levels were high, and their anxiety levels were low.