Honors College Theses

Publication Date

11-1-2021

Major

Nursing (BSN)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Faculty Mentor

Mary Estelle Bester MSN, Ph.D.

Abstract

During Spring of 2020, didactic and clinical courses for nursing students at Georgia Southern University transformed to virtual platforms due to COVID-19. Student nurses learn their profession with experiences in both classroom and clinical settings. Clinical setting helps students strengthen psychomotor skills learned during simulated laboratory work. While all health profession students expressed stress as a major factor for well-being, student nurses seemed to experience more stress. Stress threatens nursing students’ sense of control over present and future performance. Competently performing skills required of newly graduated nurses greatly determines new graduates’ ability to secure employment as a registered nurse in choice location. A study was conducted on nursing students’ perception of anxiety in moving towards online learning related to success in their academic studies and future success as healthcare professionals. Using a mixed-methodology approach, 47 participants voluntarily completed a self-paced, self-administered questionnaire measuring how the abrupt transition affected the student nurses enrolled on Armstrong and Statesboro campuses. Though limited by small sample size, the researcher believes valuable insights were gained, including input from free response the nursing program can use to prepare for potential future changes in learning formats. The lessons learned during COVID-19 pandemic are crucial as society moves forward, and unfortunately, pandemic, weather-related crisis, or other events may force universities to move to online platforms again in the future. It is suggested instructors focus on perceptions, experiences, and suggestions of nursing students to improve implementing effective online learning whenever needed.

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