Introduction: In addition to experiencing anxiety due to the first clinical practice, students also experience anxiety due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to determine the fear of Covid-19 during the first clinical experiences and experiences of students during the pandemic period.
Methods: The research was carried out using the mixed method. The study was conducted with the second-year students (N:38) of a health-related university in Turkey. The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The interview records were transcribed for the analysis of qualitative data and analyzed using Colazzi's phenomenological analysis method. The quantitative data were analyzed using numbers and percentages (%), minimum and maximum values, and mean±standard deviation (X±ss) values. Since the parametric conditions were met, Student’s t test was used in the determination of the difference between two mean values.
Results: Of the students included in the study, 92.1% were female with a mean age of 21.00±0.89 years. The Fear of COVID-19 scale mean score was 23.26±7.40 with a range of 8-35. Four themes were obtained from the qualitative data: pandemic-related experiences, first clinical experience, profession-related thoughts (professional role), and clinical supervision.
Conclusions: The results of the study showed that the positive approach of the nurses and the support of university educators are effective in ensuring students embrace the profession and develop themselves professionally, in addition to emphasizing the importance of collaboration between the hospital and the university.
Keywords: Nursing Students, clinical experience, COVID-19.
, Hafize Savaş- 
