Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced nursing education and practice into an unprecedented crisis that is constantly shifting most teaching online overnight and intensifying already high levels of stress among nurses.


Objective: This review examines how nursing students and professional nurses around the world experienced and managed heightened psychological pressure during the pandemic, highlighting both adaptive and maladaptive ways of coping.


Methods: A narrative synthesis of international studies conducted between 2020 and 2025 explored common stressors, preferred coping approaches, and factors that supported or hindered resilience in diverse settings.


Results: Academic workload, fear of infection, isolation from peers and family, financial strain, and limited hands-on training emerged as universal sources of distress. Many turned to helpful strategies such as planning ahead, seeking emotional support from colleagues, reframing difficult situations positively, and using humor or structured reflection techniques. These approaches consistently reduced anxiety, lowered burnout, and helped people stay in school or remain at work. In contrast, avoidance, denial, or emotional detachment often worsened mental health and increased dropout intentions. Strong social networks, institutional mental health programs, resilience training, and clear communication tools proved especially protective.


Conclusion: The pandemic exposed serious gaps in mental health support for nursing students and nurses, yet it also revealed remarkable adaptability worldwide. Moving forward, nursing programs and healthcare organizations should routinely teach evidence-based stress management, build peer-support systems, and provide accessible counseling. Embedding these practices into everyday training will better equip the next generation of nurses to handle future crises while protecting their own well-being.