High School Students' Perceptions of Nursing as a Career: A Pilot Study

A pilot survey of 300 high school junior students was implemented to elicit their perceptions of nursing and to explore the relationship between the experience of having a nursing role model and the decision to consider nursing as a career. The results indicated that the majority of students in the sample were aware of the caring and helping aspects of nursing, but there seemed to be a lack of knowledge about expanded roles and opportunities for advancement. High school students had significantly different mean opinion scores according to their sex (F = 17.03, p less than 0001) and the decision to consider nursing as a career (F = 10.00, p less than 002). There appeared to be a significant relationship between the experience of having a nurse role model and consideration of nursing as a career option (chi 2 = 8.23, p less than .0041). These findings have important implications for recruitment of young people into the nursing profession.