The effect of COVID-19 on nursing program passing scores

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly challenged nursing education. Nursing programs had to continue providing quality nursing education in an altered environment where much of what was traditionally face-to-face learning was forced online and into simulation. The purpose of this quantitative comparative ex post facto designed study, using secondary data and guided by Knowles's adult learning theory, was to determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing students’ nursing program passing scores before and during the pandemic. The results of the independent t test were a statistically significant decrease (p < .001) in the nursing program passing scores for students during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. The implications of this analysis provide information to nursing educators, and nursing programs can use this study to recognize there are students requiring extra support in the face of a challenge such as the COVID-19 pandemic.