The potential influences of professional identity for undergraduate nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Aim: We aimed to investigate the level of undergraduate nursing students' professional identity (PI) during the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential influences.Methods: This cross-sectional study included 742 undergraduate nursing students from Chengdu Medical College. Basic demographics, personal characteristics and PI score were collected. Chi-squared test, one-way analysis of variance, and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data.Results: In the classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021, the PI score was 96.85 +/- 18.26, 105.37 +/- 17.46, 106.67 +/- 22.08 (P < .001). PI score was the independent predictive factor for both "want to be a nurse" and "willingness to serve during COVID-19 or other pandemics".Conclusions: PI contributes greatly to nursing students' willingness to be a nurse and overcome pandemics. The challenge of culturing PI during COVID-19 pandemic revealed the necessity of developing individual management strategies for nursing education.