Paving the Way to a Better Profession: Nursing Students’ Perception Towards the Nursing Profession

Abstract

The decision to choose nursing as a profession, to stay in it, and to advance in it is most often the result of nurses' perceptions of the profession.  When they entered the field, they had a wide range of pre-existing conceptions, with solid pictures of the profession and specific expectations of their school experiences. The study aimed to identify the perception of students toward the nursing profession and to find the association between the perception of students and the demographic variables. Methods: A prospective descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted, and data were collected from four years of B. Sc. Nursing students at a tertiary college in South India. To collect data, a standardized questionnaire was distributed to the students and collected using Google Forms. Results: The findings revealed that most participants (95.4%) had plans for higher education, and 88.5% of students intend to stay in the nursing profession. In terms of perceptions of the nursing profession, 98.5% of respondents see it as a way to serve humanity, 46.6% as a way to enjoy economic security, 84.7% as a way to gain due recognition in society, 87.8% as a dignified and respectful profession, 91.6% as a way to earn blessings, and only 25.2% see it as a way to get a better marriage offer. Conclusion: The student’s perception is optimistic towards the nursing profession, and the majority prefer to be on the clinical side rather than teaching or administration.