Background: The COVID-19 pandemic in recent years has given nursing teams a unique place in this war, and an opportunity to change public opinion. The perceptions have the power to affect the users of health services, the nurses' performance, health policy, and even the choice to become a nurse.
Aim: To examine the relationship between the public's perceptions and attitudes to the nursing profession compared with other healthcare professions, and to examine the relationship with the image of nursing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design and methods: This study is a cross-sectional study, with a descriptive correlational design. Specifically, 80 respondents, men and women aged 18-75, joined a survey consisting of an anonymous questionnaire.
Results: A positive relationship was found between the public's perceptions and attitudes to nursing compared with other professions and the image of nursing in the wake of COVID-19, so the more positive public opinion was, the more positive the image of nursing would be.
Conclusion: In the wake of COVID-19, the public's opinion and perception of the nursing profession compared to other professions and their attitudes to nurses are more positive. It is important to continue to explore which factors most affected and changed the image of nursing during the pandemic, and to design strategies to preserve the improved image of nursing among the public on an ongoing basis.
Keywords: COVID-19; image of nursing; public perceptions and attitudes.