A study Revealed that knowledge about nursing
career can be the main factor to influence one’s decision to study
nursing and this could come through family members and exposure to work
experience (money et al 2007).Inferential data analysis showing that
attitude, having or not having a nurse friend and knowledge was found to
have significant positive influence on high school student intention,
while long working hours high work load compared to other jobs were
found to have a significant negative influence (Badran A, Al- Omar 2005)
2.8 REASONS FOR CHOOSNG NURSING CAREER
The reasons student choose to study nursing are firstly, the education
and career aspirations which include the students belief that nursing
is their choice of career and that there is advancement in he nursing
career or nursing education.(Tam-knick and nig,2010)
The second
reason is the personal ability which is the stress management,
motivation, perseverance and self-confidence third reason is the
socio-economic status which involve job security, images, stereo types
monetary reward and another one is parental and peer perception and
support (op. cit 2007)Another reason would be the expectation o
employment. This boils down to job security acquire a job and that as a
heath are professional one can not go without a job (Gutierrez et al
2010)
A study revealed that registered nurses and nursing student
chose to study nursing because of the opportunity for caring and that
was their vocation in life which were congruent with the character and
temperament found in the participant (Eley d et al, 2012)
PERCEPTION OF NURSING
Perception is the way in which something is regarded understood, or
interpreted (Oxford Dictionary 2012).therefore nursing as a concept’ is
more than just definition (Mason-whitehead et al,2008).it is part of a
framework of communication, language of a group and this reflect who
nurses are and this definition carries a person’s perception (safari,
saleh, nasir, amre and frolicker, 2011)
Perception of nursing as a
career are through to be related to choice made by high school student
when entering into the nursing profession, and the decision to choose or
refuse nursing was significantly influenced by the congruence between
student perception of an ideal career and nursing as a career (Ahmed
Alasweda et al,2009)
It is important to ascertain how student
perceive nursing and the decision to choose nursing to be their career
or any other career is highly influenced by one’s previous ideals about
the career. The society and media play a
major role in influencing the image and ideas the student has of nursing career (Mooney, glackem and O’Brien 2008)
Advice from family, friend, school career master and nurses,
interaction with nurses in practice, interaction with sick people and
interaction with student already enrolled in a nursing education program
were found to be common major influencing agent for a student ‘s image
of the nursing profession and career choice of nursing (Ahmed Alaswede
et al,2009)
A Study revealed that high school students indicated
that the students associate the nurse figure to the assonating function
and they visualize nurses as an auxiliary of the physician and that they
were not aware of the different categories of the nursing profession
and the education level of the profession (spindelo et al 2006).
Therefore it is essential to give information to the young stars before
entering college for them to know what nursing is all about so that they
choose the profession knowing what it entailed therefore reducing the
rate of dropouts and therefore retaining them in the profession.
Another perception about nursing is that it is regarded as a career
more suitable for females than male and this was found out from a
research made in the university of Ontario Canada (Bartfay et al). The
research was made from female generally perceived by the society and
stereotype that male nurses are for example, gay, effeminate, less
compassionate and caring that female nurses and it contributes
negatively to the recruitment and retention of the nursing student in he
program and adds to the shortage of nurses (op. cit 2010).Due to the
fact that the career (nursing)has been associated with feminine
characteristic, it is frequently perceived as a woman’s job (Money et
al,2007).
Security in the job is one of the most important
characteristics of the ideal career, every person should be secured
during his job and after leaving this job (Mary et al, 2005)and only
nurses were perceived as having job security that matched the ideal
career. A Study by Jane Hensley et al in 2006 in the university o south
ampton showed that majority of young people career choice don’t regard
to salary and base their decision on interest and desire to help people.
These Study finding indicates that although young people expressed
administration for the work of nurses. This was rarely matched by an
envy of nurses, or a desire to become a Nurse themselves.
In
general, nursing is perceived favorably for its ability to provide
security of employment and a steady income (op. cit 2007).As mentioned
earlier, it is perceived as a job that involved caring, nurturing and
teaching, it also required compassion, patience and strength (Mooney et
al 2008).
