Challenging Nursing Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic; a Qualitative Content Analysis

Aims: With the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, distance education became the main alternative to conventional education in nursing. This study was conducted to explore nursing students’ experiences of distance education during the COVID-19 era. Participants Method: This study was conducted in 2022-2023, using the qualitative content analysis method, at Maragheh University of Medical Sciences. Experiences were obtained through purposive sampling from 14 nursing students, and the data were collected and analyzed by MAXQDA software with high rigor. Findings: Low readiness to face distance education as the main category and five categories: Educator’s poor attitude towards distance learning, Little familiarity with information technology, Weak files provided for practical and clinical courses, Challenging distance assessment, and Weak infrastructure in information technology was found. Conclousion: There were limitations in distance education in most countries, which indicated a low readiness to provide distance education on a large scale.