Main objective:

Evaluate differences between nursing educational programs regarding the stressors that affect students during their clinical practices.

Methodology:

Descriptive-comparative design with a sample of 266 participants of two educational programs: Bachelor and Associate Degree in Nursing. The KEZKAK questionnaire was applied and the differences between educational programs were analyzed.

Main results:

Perceived stressors during clinical practices of nursing students differ between educational programs; having differences regarding the subscale "the patient seeks an intimate relationship". The main stressors were "doing my job wrong and hurting the patient", "that my responsibility in a patient's care is important" and "having to be with a terminal patient".

Main conclusions:

Undergraduate students presented higher stress values than those in a bachelor's degree. This justifies the need to include, in a curricular level, specific strategies for stress management.