This study aimed to identify nursing undergraduates' anxiety about the first surgical instrumentation. The sample consisted of 30 sixth-period students who were enrolled in the subject Surgical Nursing. Data were collected through the STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). We identified that 90% of the students demonstrated low levels of trait anxiety. As to state anxiety, the most frequent observations were: low anxiety level on the first day of theoretical class (76.7%). medium anxiety level at the lab (53%) and medium anxiety level during supervised training (80%). Furthermore, we identified a small number of students with high anxiety levels. The statistical analysis shows significant differences among the mean levels of state-anxiety during the three data collection phases.
anxiety; students nursing; surgery; instrumentation
