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Objective. To verify the presence of stress among undergraduatenursing students in different stages of hospital practice. Method.Descriptive, cross-sectional study addressing 86 nursing studentsin their 6th, 7th, and 9th semesters in 2011. An instrument developedby Costa and Polak for the Assessment of Stress Among NursingStudents was used. It is composed of six domains: performanceof practical activities, professional communication, timemanagement, environment, professional training, and theoreticalactivity. Results. Most participants were women (95%) and theaverage age was 23 years old. A total of 84% of students passedthe program’s courses and 91% participated in extracurricularactivities. Stressors are present during the entire program butintensify when students are introduced to care practice with anemphasis on the domain of professional training; related stresswas high in all the semesters. The scores concerning the practicalactivity domain were higher only in the 6th semester. There werestatistically significant levels at 0.01 and 0.10 in the differencein the averages in the domains of training and time management,respectively, between the semesters. As the students advance inthe program, scores obtained in the domains presented by AEEEchange. As stress can interfere in the performance and learningof nursing students, coping strategies should be devised to enablethem to deal with stress during the program.
