Attitude of the Nursing Students and Practicing Nurses toward Nursing Profession in Nepal

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing is considered as a respectful profession giving a sense of value of life through their hard work such as comforting, caring and serving people and saving lives. Attitude can be formed from a person’s past and present. This profession continues to grow and the attitude of the society toward it has been changing gradually. There have been a few studies on the attitude of the nurses toward their own profession in Nepal. The primary objective of this study is to compare the attitude of the nursing students and the practicing nurses toward nursing profession.

Methods: A quantitative, prospective comparative cross sectional study design was adapted for this study. Nursing students studying proficiency certificate level (PCL)in a Nursing campus, and the practicing nurses working at a Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in Kathmandu, Nepal were selected as study population. Attitude scale for nursing profession (ASNP) developed by Ipek- Coban and Kasikci in 2011 was adapted for the purpose of this study.

Results: A total of 240 participants were selected for the study. One hundred and twenty were nursing students and 120 were practicing nurses. Only 0.8% of nursing students had negative attitude and all practicing nurses had positive attitude toward nursing profession. The t test {t(238)=-2.868, p=0.005} value of the comparative study denoted the attitude of the students and practicing nurses was different statistically.

Conclusion: Contrary to previous beliefs, there is a strong positive attitude on nursing profession among both nursing students and practicing nurses, the attitude of the later reaching 100%. This should be considered by health care planner in formulating national policy to take a major step toward creating more scope for trained nurses which will in turn reduce brain drain.