Authors

1Sara Martínez Arribas, 2Patricia Zaragoza Pérez, 2Ana Isabel Herrero Gutiérrez, 2María Elena Alonso Campo

Position

¹Enfermera. Unidad de Cardiología. Hospital Universitario de Burgos. ²Enfermera. Bloque Quirúrgico. Hospital Universitario de Burgos.

Contact address

Sara Martínez Arribas. Hospital Universitario de Burgos. Unidad de Cardiología (Bloque D. 3ª planta). Avd. Islas Baleares, 3. 09006 Burgos.

Contact email: smartineza@saludcastillayleon.es

Abstract

Objective: to describe the motivating factors (traditional, practical and professional) for the selection of the Nursing career. To analyze generational differences, as well as the ways used to access the career.
Material and method: transversal descriptive study. The population of this study was: Nursing professionals in four hospital units (n= 104) at the Hospital General Yagüe in Burgos, and 2nd year students (n= 48) from the Nursing School in Burgos. Data collection was conducted through two self-prepared anonymous questionnaires, which had previously undergone a pilot test. The contingency quotient was used for the bivariate analysis.
Results: the study included 106 professionals and 51 students. A 70.8% of the participants claimed they have studied the career by vocation. Students had previous working experience in the healthcare area to a higher proportion than professionals (p= 0.002), and also had some relative who was working in the healthcare area to a higher proportion (p= 0.047), and had chosen this career because it presented good job expectations (p= 0.007). There were statistically significant differences (p= 0.013) between generational groups regarding “Choosing again to study Nursing” (65.5% of professionals with over 22 years of working experience, vs. 94% of students).
Conclusions: the majority of the participants have chosen the Nursing career by vocation and/or desire to help others, regardless of their age and years of practice; this highlights the vocational nature of this profession over time. However, there is a higher proportion of professionals with longer experience who would not study this career again, showing that there may be some professional disappointment as years go by.

Keywords:

motivation; nursing career selectionvocation

Versión en Español

Título:

Factores motivacionales en la elección de los estudios de Enfermería