Career Preferences of Preregistration Nursing Students: Exploratory Survey

Preparing nurses, the largest employee group in most health care organizations, enabling them to take greater responsibility for their career goals is critical. There are many factors that can influence a graduating nurse's perception of their career.

This study explores the career preferences of undergraduate nursing students and the associated factors, and examines the demographic factors relationship to their career preferences.

An exploratory survey was conducted among 300 undergraduate B. Sc Nursing students in four selected colleges of Mangalore city.

The key finding suggests that maximum number of participants (88.3%) were sure about their career preferences and more than half of them (64%) prefer to work in hospital setting. The participant's most preferred area of work were teaching faculty 63(21%), critical care nursing 59(19.7%), whereas and public health nursing 8(2.7%) and nurse anaesthetist 5(1.7%) were the least preferred area. 16.3% of participants have a plan to divert the career.

Identifying the factors that influence young nurse's career preferences, which can be interpreted by the nurse educators and administrators to prepare nurses to become professionally equipped and to retain and enhance themselves in their profession.