How Do You See Yourself Contributing to The Nursing Profession: a Study

Introduction

The nursing profession is a discipline involved in the delivery of health care to society. It is a helping profession that is service-oriented, aiming to maintain the health and well-being of individuals. Nursing is both an art and a career, requiring a harmonious blend of knowledge, skills, and values. It stands as a noble calling that demands compassionate care from dedicated and caring hearts. In today's world, there exists a wide array of vocational choices and career opportunities for individuals. However, these choices do not manifest abruptly; they evolve through the gradual development of mental processes. A 'nurse' is defined as someone who nurtures or cultivates certain qualities within an individual, often a woman specially trained for the care of the sick. As the world of nursing continues to evolve, how do you see yourself contributing to the nursing profession? (1)

Contributing Factors to the Nursing Profession

The nursing profession is changing rapidly it owes much to the influence of Florence Nightingale (1820 -1910), a woman with a vision who is pioneer of nursing. When nursing was regarded with contempt Ms. Nightingale crusaded to change the worlds view a nurse. Her contribution is the education of woman her development of the theories of nursing practice and hygiene technique, the emphasis on the preparation promotion of health of the individuals and promotion of nursing spectrum today.(2)

When Nepal, first of all, opened its doors to the outside world in the early 1950's there was no profession nurses in the country. In present context patient to nurse ration in biggest government hospital is nurse ratio in biggest government hospital is approximately 20:5. Nursing and mid wife professional consist the largest element of the health care work force in most of the countries. (3)

The ratio of health care services of nurse ratio shows 1:6295 which earns that many people have to be motivated to improve the condition of nursing in Nepal. Higher secondary student’s perception of nursing care is based on graphic descriptions that are often restricted to bedside care medicine administration instead of that of highly skilled well-educated nursing professionals or volunteered in a health care setting to acquire a background on which to limit their opportunities for more informed career decisions making skills. (4)

Students are currently seeking professional autonomy, “high status” and challenging academic career instead of being a “CAREER”. Nursing is often seen as “Career” by high school students whose visual association with nursing is limited to bedside care and taking orders from physicians. Student’s perception about nursing can influence in their decision to choose a career in nursing. (5)

So, after going through the different literature and from the researcher’s practical experience during her higher secondary school period noticed that students had a very little opinion to choose Nursing as a career. Hence, the researcher decided to conduct the study to find out the recent perception of the higher secondary student towards the Nursing Profession.

Methods and Materials

The descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted in United Academy Kumaripati, Lalitpur, Nepal. The population for the study was the entire student studying in class 11 and 12 of science stream at United Academy Kumaripati, Lalitpur. There were altogether 14 sections. Each section comprised of 45-50 students. The sample size was 154 students. The sample size was calculated at 95% confidence level and 5% confidence interval. The proportion of students having a positive attitude towards the nursing profession being 89.5%. (6)

Disproportionate Stratified Random sampling technique was used to select the sample; there were 14 sections in class 11 and 12. So, considering the class section as strata, strata wise sample was selected in a disproportionate manner. From each stratum, 11 students were chosen randomly by using the lottery method.

Students of class 11 and 12 who were from science stream available at the time of Data collection. The students who were willing to participate were included in the study. Semi-Structured Questionnaire was prepared according to the objectives of the study, after reviewing the related literature and consulting the research advisor and expertise of the related fields.

The tool was divided into 2 sections: 1st Section comprised of demographic variables. The 2nd section comprised perception scale was used to assess the Perception of Higher Secondary School Students Towards Nursing Profession where 5 point scale was used There were altogether 30 questions and the total score given was 150.

Direction for scoring For positive statement score was given as 5 = Strongly Agree, 4 = Agree, 3 = Neutral 2 = Disagree, 1 = Strongly Disagree and for a negative statement the scoring was done in a reverse manner. It was categorized as:

• Positive Perception: 101 - 150
• Neutral Perception: 50 - 100
• Negative Perception: below 50

The validity of the tool was ascertained by seeking the opinion of 11 expertise in the related field. Pre-testing of the tool was done among the 15 higher secondary students (10% of sample size) of VS Niketan College who met the set inclusion criteria. Reliability of the tool was computed by using Cronbach’s alpha and it was found to be 0.8, so, the tool was found to be reliable.

Ethical Approach to Nursing

Ethical approval of the research proposal was taken from the Institutional Review Committee (IRC). Permission was obtained from the founder chairman of United Academy. Anonymity and confidentiality of the students and the data were maintained. Respondents were not influenced by any means to participate in the survey. Verbal informed consent was taken from each student. Data was collected by the researcher herself. A self-administered questionnaire was used for the study to assess the perception of the nursing profession. Time taken by each student to fulfil the question was 15 - 20 minutes appropriately.

Collected data was checked for completeness. Data was organized in order for editing, classifying, coding and tabulating the information. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage). Data processing was done manually and with the help of a computer using SPSS (version 20). Interpretation of data was done on the basis of analyzed data. The findings were presented on the relevant tables.

In the present study it was found that majority of the students (60.4%) were from the age group 17-19 yrs and remaining students (39.6%) were from the age group 14-16yrs. Among the students, maximum students (51.3%) were female whereas 48.7% of students were male. Similarly, more than half of students (56.5%) were from class 12 and remaining students (43.5%) were from class 11, majority of the students (77.3%) were Hindu, 13.0% students were Buddhists, 6% students were Christian, likewise 3.2% students were Muslim and rest of the 5.8 % students were from other religions.

Similarly, the majority of the students (74.75%) were from nuclear family, many students (25.0%) were from a joint family and the rest of the students (1.3%) were from extended family. Similarly, the majority of the students (69.5%) fathers and (42.2%) mother’s education level was higher secondary and above, similarly, the maximum number of students (66.6%) mothers’ occupation was housewife whereas 51.3% of student’s father’s occupation was business similarly, majority of the students (63.6%) were residing at their own home. Similarly, the highest number of students (49.4%) family income was above

The findings of the present study showed that most of the students (81.17%) were having positive perception and the minority of the students (18.83%) was having neutral perception. Present study findings are consistent with the findings of the study which concluded that most of the students (89.5%) have positive attitude towards Nursing Profession and the study at Nigeria concluded that majority of the students have a positive perception towards the nursing profession. (6,7)

The findings of the study showed that highest number of students (42.9%) strongly agreed that nursing is a respectful profession while the study concluded by Achilles (2010) showed that 76% of the students agreed that nursing is a respectful profession, whereas the study conducted by Emmanuel (2015) showed that 64.8% of the students strongly agreed that the nursing is a noble profession. (7,8)

The findings of this study showed that the highest number of the students (46.6%) agreed that nurses are well appreciated in the society. which is supported by the finding conducted by Emmanuel (2015) concluded that 33.9% of the students agreed that nursing is admired by many people in society. (7)

The findings of this study showed that the highest number of students (33.1%) were neutral to the statement a way to enjoy economic security, which is consistent with the findings of the study conducted by Emmanuel (2015) who reported that 39% strongly agreed to the statement Good pay in nursing offers positive view about the choice of nursing. (7)

Conclusion

The study was limited only to a small sample of the students of United Academy, only one higher secondary school so, the study was difficult to generalize. The findings of the study have based on the opinion of the higher secondary students only which may vary according to different classes. This study can be replicated in a large sample and in a different setting to find out the perception of higher secondary students towards the nursing profession. A similar study can be done among the secondary students to find out their perception of the nursing profession. A qualitative study can be done in order to obtain an in-depth perception of the students towards the nursing profession. 

Works Cited

1. American Nurses Association. (2021). Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (4th ed.). Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.

2. Nightingale, F. (1860). Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not. Harrison and Sons.

3. World Health Organization. (2020). State of the world's nursing 2020: Investing in education, jobs and leadership. World Health Organization.

4. Smith, M. J., & Liehr, P. R. (2003). Attitudes toward nursing: the effects of gender and nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 42(10), 447-451.

5. Ferguson, L. M., & Day, R. A. (1996). Perceptions of nursing among high school students. Journal of Nursing Education, 35(6), 256-261.

6. Acharya, B. (2016). A study to assess the perception of higher secondary school students towards nursing profession in selected higher secondary schools of Kathmandu valley (Doctoral dissertation, Maharajgunj Nursing Campus, Tribhuvan University).

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7. Emmanuel, E. (2015). Students' Perception of Nursing as a Career Choice. International Journal of Nursing Education, 7(2), 178-183.