Distance Education and Burnout Syndrome among Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Social restrictions and changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as a global emergency, are becoming particularly pronounced in the field of education. It is estimated that more than 1.5 billion students have experienced school and university closures during the pandemic, which has affected numerous aspects of student life and activities. The rapid transformation of the teaching process and learning methods poses a major challenge for students, teachers and the education system as a whole. During the pandemic, patterns are also changing in the implementation of clinical teaching, which has been canceled, postponed or transferred to “online” activities for the safety of students and patients. All of the above contributes to the emergence of various dimensions of the “burnout” syndrome among health science students around the world. They also become a vulnerable group with changes in their health status and behavior, work and family environment, social contacts, but also the development of work skills. This review summarizes the impact of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic on the emergence of different dimensions of burnout in nursing students and presents a brief overview of the history, consequences, prevalence and perspectives for overcoming it. The aim of this review is to assess the impact of distance learning and abrupt changes in teaching methods in the field of nursing education during the COVID-19 pandemic on the emergence of burnout, as well as to analyze the predictors that influenced its development under these conditions.