Experiences of nursing students in caring of patients in source isolation

BACKGROUND: Infectious disease control is one of the important components of patient care which can assist in reducing morbidity and mortality. Source isolation is one of the strategies that have used in order to prevent from the spread of contagious infectious diseases. Since nursing student should be able to do the caring in source isolation patients after learning the principles, it's necessary to assess the students’ perception of caring for this client group in order to prepare them for the role of caring. METHODS: This is a qualitative phenomenological study; its participants were selected with maximum variation by purposed sampling from first to fourth year nursing and midwifery students of Isfahan School of Nursing and Midwifery. The students used to do the patient caring during the clinical internship. The sampling done until 10 interview data saturation was obtained. In order to collect data, researcher used depth interview method. Data analysis was performed by seven-stage Collaizzi method. RESULTS: The findings of this study included 6 main concept (themes) from participants’ experiences as following: 1. Stressor agents of caring, 2. Response to stress, 3. Care requirments, 4. Care provider performance, 5. Consequence of care, and 6. Improper caring. CONCLUSIONS: Providing educational programs in terms of isolated patients can reduce anxiety in students which this can lead to more control and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. In addition, studying about patients’ needs can be useful for improving practical interventions and clinical care.