Introduction: Clinical education encountered significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries due to the prevailing psychological climate in clinical environments. The inability to provide students with opportunities to gain relevant and appropriate clinical experiences has consequences for both students and the nursing profession. This study aimed to describe the challenges faced by nursing educators at the Sarab Faculty of Medical Sciences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Materials & Methods: This research employed a qualitative content analysis methodology, collecting data from nine participants through semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling was initiated and continued until data saturation was reached. The data analysis utilized a directed content analysis approach. The research's accuracy, validity, and robustness were assessed using the criteria proposed by Guba and Lincoln.
Results: Based on the experiences of nursing educators, the challenges of clinical education during the COVID-19 pandemic were categorized into eight main components: assessment methods, clinical instructors, learners, educational opportunities, educational resources and facilities, educational management, educational objectives, and educational content. The findings indicated that ‘educational management’ and ‘educational resources and facilities’ were identified as the core challenges; deficiencies in supervision and planning, coupled with a lack of protective equipment and restricted educational spaces, had the greatest impact on diminishing the quality of clinical education.
Conclusion: The findings of the present study, based on the framework of the qualitative research paradigm model, indicate that educational management factors, educational resources, and facilities are the central categories of the research. This study's results can be used to plan appropriately to improve clinical training in pandemic conditions.

Acknowledgments:The authors would like to thank the faculty members of the Sarab Faculty of Medical Sciences for their valuable cooperation.

Availability of data and materials:The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the qualitative nature of the data and the need to protect participant confidentiality. However, data may be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Conflicts of interest:The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Consent for publication:Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain any data or images from individual persons; therefore, consent for publication is not required.

Ethical approval and consent to participate:This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for human studies (IR.TBZMED.REC.1401.346). The participants’ data were analyzed and reported anonymously and confidentially. The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki.

Funding:This research was funded by the Medical Education Research Center at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Grant Number: 69577).

Authors’ Contributions:TZ and FH designed the study. TZ conducted the data collection. TZ and FH performed the data analysis. FH provided study supervision. TZ and FH drafted the manuscript. Both authors critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and approved the final version.

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