COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on Nursing Students: How the COVID-19 Pandemic has affected nursing students' perception of the nursing profession

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the working environment for nurses, making the environment new graduates are entering different than the one they thought they would be entering into when they began nursing school. Besides the change in the working environment for nurses there has also been a change in the image of nursing, how the profession is viewed. This image of nursing has been one of the many areas of everyday life that received intense media attention throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the media attention has created positive responses from the public such as appreciation, gratitude, and love. Despite the increase in media attention for the nursing profession during the pandemic, the same historical outdated image of nursing remains. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to remain relevant and impactful in everyday life more and more studies are coming out on how the image of nursing has been affected for different populations, including nurses and nursing students. Though little research has been done on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nursing students’ perception of the image of nursing. The purpose of this project is to find out what perception nursing students have of the profession and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed it.