The public image of nursesHow do student nurses see the nursing profession
Section: TEACHING TO LEARN
Authors
1Mª Dolores Burguete Ramos, 2José Antonio Ávila Olivares, 3Javier Velasco Laiseca
Position
1Profesora Administración Servicios Enfermería. EUE Ntra. Sra. de los Desamparados de Valencia.2Enfermero Atención Primaria de Alicante.3Profesor Ciencias de la Conducta. EUE de la Fe de Valencia.
Contact email: burguete_dol@gva.es
Abstract
The social perception of nursing not just in our country but worldwide continues to be considered more that of an occupation than a profession. The desirable characteristics required for nurses as corroborated by the literature continue to be characteristics that do not appear to correspond to the XXI century but rather to the late XIX century.
With the aim of confirming this devaluated image that nurses have, it appeared appropriate, to conduct a study on how 1st year student nurses perceived the social image of nursing as a career. As the subjects had only had a short initial contact with the profession, they were a clear indicator of the social perception. All 1st year students were given the same questionnaire as the 3rd year students to determine whether there were any differences in the answers given between both groups of students.
General objective: to describe the answers of the student nurses with regard to their perception on the image of nursing.
Population: 1st and 3rd year student nurses from 5 Schools of Nursing in the Valencia region.
Method: questionnaire with 5 open questions requesting information on the reasons for which nursing was chosen as a career as well as the students´ perception on the social and work image of the profession.
Results: 182 completed questionnaires were collected. 54% claimed to have chosen the profession because it helps people, followed by 20% that claimed that they chose nursing purely because of practical reasons. The reasons continue to be valid in their majority for 3rd year students. As regards the social image, it was considered to be poor by 75% and good by 2% of respondents. The social image shows similar results.
Conclusions: the results do not differ from what is reported in the reviewed literature. A social image of the nurse as a fundamentally female career is confirmed, from stereotypes, more suitable for the 40´s or 50´s of the last century than to the evolution society has undergone, both in the regulatory as well as in the sociological fields. We believe that the change in the perception of the social image of nurses requires to a certain extent the perception we have of ourselves. In that sense we believe it to be important to substitute these stereotypes in the manner in which we practice our profession, emphasising the peculiarity of our daily routine and the added value we represent in primary care.
With the aim of confirming this devaluated image that nurses have, it appeared appropriate, to conduct a study on how 1st year student nurses perceived the social image of nursing as a career. As the subjects had only had a short initial contact with the profession, they were a clear indicator of the social perception. All 1st year students were given the same questionnaire as the 3rd year students to determine whether there were any differences in the answers given between both groups of students.
General objective: to describe the answers of the student nurses with regard to their perception on the image of nursing.
Population: 1st and 3rd year student nurses from 5 Schools of Nursing in the Valencia region.
Method: questionnaire with 5 open questions requesting information on the reasons for which nursing was chosen as a career as well as the students´ perception on the social and work image of the profession.
Results: 182 completed questionnaires were collected. 54% claimed to have chosen the profession because it helps people, followed by 20% that claimed that they chose nursing purely because of practical reasons. The reasons continue to be valid in their majority for 3rd year students. As regards the social image, it was considered to be poor by 75% and good by 2% of respondents. The social image shows similar results.
Conclusions: the results do not differ from what is reported in the reviewed literature. A social image of the nurse as a fundamentally female career is confirmed, from stereotypes, more suitable for the 40´s or 50´s of the last century than to the evolution society has undergone, both in the regulatory as well as in the sociological fields. We believe that the change in the perception of the social image of nurses requires to a certain extent the perception we have of ourselves. In that sense we believe it to be important to substitute these stereotypes in the manner in which we practice our profession, emphasising the peculiarity of our daily routine and the added value we represent in primary care.
Keywords:
public image; nursingstudents
Versión en Español
Título:
La imagen pública de las enfermeras. Cómo ven la profesión los estudiantes de enfermería
