Perception and impact of influencing factors of nursing as a career choice amongst Higher Secondary School Students: Descriptive study

Abstract

In an era of declining enrolments in nursing, it is vital to identify the significant decline in the admissions for the Basic B.Sc. program in nursing. The key themes that emerged in this descriptive study of 200 interviewees were the use of the career choice questionnaire for high school students, their perceptions and influence on nursing choice as an influencing factor in career choice. Nursing was viewed as a very contentious career choice. Nowhere have the respondents viewed nursing as an independent practicing profession and one that requires higher cognitive potentials.  Their choices of careers were medicine, engineering and information technology.  According to themtheir expectations of a career did not match with nursing career. The final theme is that respondents did not choose nursing because they wanted to be unique, and adding nursing would waste their examination scores. There is an urgent need to take action and develop strategies to attract recruited nursing students. As a priority, we need to promote many aspects of modern nursing and the stereotyped image of nursing among high school students, which is crucial.