Clinical Experience during the Covid-19 pandemic: Student Nurses Perspectives from India

Covid 19 pandemic spread in India has affected the teaching-learning aspects of academics. (Raja & Lakshmi Priya, 2022) 290 million students out of school due to COVID-19: UNESCO releases first global numbers and mobilizes response. (UNESCO, 2020) All educational institutions in the country were immediately shut down and all students were sent back to their respective homes as soon as the rise in covid 19 cases was detected (Mid-March 2020). (Tarkar, 2020) BSc Nursing program in India has compulsory requirements for completion of practical requirements before the course completion. (Nursing Council) Clinical postings were withheld during the peak of the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic and all academic activities were carried out in online mode during this period. Especially concerning nursing institutions, the sudden shift of classes from offline to online was a drastic change experienced by the faculty and students. This perspective article has been written by nursing students from a selected institution in Udupi District and is based on the experiences and responses collected from their colleagues regarding the influence of the pandemic on their clinical learning and overall knowledge and the measures taken to overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic. Here, in this article, the students shared about the clinical experience during the pandemic with the comparison of how clinical\postings and experiences were earlier and how they were being conducted during the pandemic period through online mode.