Objective The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the needs of public health nursing courses and specialty settings under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods A total of 576 medical students majored in clinical medicine， preventive medicine， pharmacy， and nursing from a Shanghai university participated in this survey. The Questionnaire Star App was used to collect students' knowledge， attitude and behavior about public health safety and emergency preparedness， public health related curriculum and public health nursing specialty， through self-administered approach.

Results There were significant differences in the knowledge of emergency nursing among students with different majors and grades. Over 80% of the participants agreed that "public health popularization should be strengthened". Over 60% were willing to "invest more time and energy in learning and understanding public health-related disease prevention and control knowledge". The school has carried out corresponding training or practice activities in public health education. Compared with nursing major， students with other majors performed better in paying attention to and participating in the training or practical activities of public health education. More than 70% agreed that it was necessary to set up public health nursing courses， especially nursing specialty， with the approval rate as high as 92.3%. Students believed that "2 class hours per week"， and "1/10 of the total class hours" was appropriate. In terms of course teaching， nursing students put forward more expectations on teaching objectives， methods， and characteristic courses.

Conclusion Undergraduates lack knowledge of public health nursing， but most of them， especially nursing undergraduates， have a strong desire to learn and have a positive attitude towards opening public health nursing courses. However， there are still problems such as insufficient attention to and insufficient understanding of the courses. More efforts should be made to enhance the public health nursing education on public health emergencies， optimize the relevant settings of courses， so as to train nursing personnel suitable for the current health service needs in China.