Perception on the Nursing Profession and Career Choice of High School Students

Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

According to Wieck (2006), the nursing workforce seems to be at an exciting crossroad of change, both in recruiting and in curriculum. The environment of healthcare has changed and so has nursing, resulting in students asking, “What is nursing?” This question creates a challenge for nurse educators. In order to attract and retain bright, capable students in nursing, there must be changes in the nursing curriculum to provide and assure accurate and definitive perceptions of nursing. Factors which currently contribute to students’ perceptions of nursing must be identified in order to establish and provide students with the career making skills necessary in choosing a nursing career, find job satisfaction following graduation, and remain in nursing as a career.
Peterson (2006) stated that historically, nurses have been predominantly females who were easily recognized by a white hat and uniform making the professional and the profession more visible. Today, white uniforms and hats have been replaced by vivid colored scrub suits worn by both male and female nurses. Students’ perceptions of nursing are based on visual images that are often limited to bedside care and drug administration instead of that of a highly skilled and well-educated nursing professional with an important role to play in healthcare.
Foskett and Hensley-Brown (2008) suggests that students’ career perceptions are highly individual, and are the product of contracted images of jobs they see for themselves, derived images from media, and delegated images from parents and friends. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (2000) lists nursing as one of the top 40 growth jobs for the next ten years. But looking in today’s scenario, the number of students applying to baccalaureate nursing programs across the nation is decreasing.
In the Philippines, according to CHED Executive Director Julito Vitriolo (2010), nursing is considered one of the

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