Nursing Students' Satisfaction and Perceptions Under the Unprecedented Abrupt Online Clinical Practicum During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Aim: To explore nursing students' satisfaction levels of each specific item and perceptions under the unprecedented abrupt online clinical practicum during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: A mixed-method design comprises a questionnaire and qualitative content analysis.

Methods: The study used purposive sampling using data from nursing students in grade 3 of a 4-year bachelor RN programme at a technological university in the north of Taiwan, compiled from May 2021 to June 2021 using an online questionnaire. Students were invited to fill out a 5-point Likert scale to answer questions on their satisfaction with online clinical practicum and an open-ended question describing their experiences and perceptions of online clinical practicum. Quantitative data were analysed using the mean and standard deviation. Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis.

Results: A total of 157 nursing students participated. Students' overall satisfaction with online clinical practicum gained the lowest score with a mean score of 3.33 (±0.98). By contrast, students' satisfaction with the attitudes of teachers for online clinical practicum gained the highest score with a mean score of 4.53 (±0.69). Based on qualitative data analysis, the advantages of online clinical practicum include providing flexible learning time and space and improving the learning depth of the nursing profession; the disadvantages include the negative impact of long-term online learning on body and mind and difficulty replacing the learning in real clinic scenarios.

Conclusions: Students have a moderate level of overall satisfaction with online clinical practicum, but a high level of satisfaction with teachers' teaching attitudes. Students perceptions that online clinical practicum can provide flexible learning time and space and improve nursing professional knowledge through multiple teaching strategies; however, online virtual practicum can scarcely replace the real experience gained by nursing patients.

Impact: The findings highlight the value of online practicum in offering flexible learning opportunities and enhancing nursing knowledge through multiple teaching strategies. However, students also underscore the irreplaceable role of hands-on patient care experiences in developing comprehensive clinical competence, suggesting the need to balance virtual and real-world practicum in nursing education.

Patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.