Comparing Perceptions of the Nursing Profession Among Associate and Baccalaureate Nursing Students and Registered Nurses

The inconsistencies between the perception of the profession of nursing and the reality of practice can lead to problems in student attrition or result in disillusionment with a career in nursing after a new graduate enters practice. With the nursing shortage reaching critical levels, it is important to examine possible discrepancies that exist and address strategies to reduce them. For this study, a quantitative design was selected to explore how the perception of the nursing profession compared among first-semester associate degree nursing students, first-semester baccalaureate nursing students, and registered nurses. A convenience sample N = 238 included 69 ADN students, 38 BSN students, and 131 registered nurses. Each participant completed the Perceptions of Professional Nursing Tool (PPNT) which measured perceptions utilizing the tenets of nursing Practice, Values, and Public Image. French and Kahn\u27s (1962) person-environment fit model served as a framework for this study. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and psychometric computations (factor analysis, Cronbach\u27s alpha, and inter-scale correlations). Research questions asked (a) What differences existed among the groups in regard to demographics? (b) What differences in the perception of the profession of nursing existed among the groups? and (c) To what extent does organizational context (ADN program, BSN program, and RN) affect the perceptions of nursing when controlling for demographics? Research questions were analyzed with ANOVA and/or ANCOVA techniques utilizing SPSS. Findings revealed significant differences regarding demographics among the groups were age, healthcare experience, healthcare position, and education. The tenet of Practice was different among the groups (RNs scored higher); Values and Public Image revealed no significant differences. When controlling for demographic controls, Practice and Public Image were significantly different among the groups. BSN students and RNs revealed the most difference in their view of the public image of nursing (BSN students thought the public viewed nursing image higher than the RNs. Recommendations for practice include (a) encouraging respect among nurses with all levels of education, (b) providing accurate information about nursing practice, (c) requiring a class about the profession to prospective nursing students, (d) incorporating RNs in practice into the classroom to talk about their work, and (e) addressing nursing stereotypes through frequent classroom examples from the media followed by discussions

Student Empathy: A Learning Experience

A class of senior students in a community nursing course wrote Dear Diary journal entries that conveyed a deep understanding of empathy. This assignment served to connect the students with people in different stages of life. The Dear Diary journal entries provide an example to effectively demonstrate how classroom assignments can encourage students to place themselves in another’s shoes, the basis for empathy

Being a Good Nurse and Doing the Right Thing: A Replication Study

This qualitative research, a replication of Smith and Godfrey’s study published in 2002, investigated the qualities of a good nurse and the role ethics played in decision-making. After reviewing the limitations of Smith and Godfrey’s work, the current study implemented modifications related to the research questions, sample selection, data collection, and utilization of software for data analysis. The original study identified seven categories that related to being a good nurse and doing the right thing. In this study, the use of relational analysis led to the recognition of four categories: (a) personal traits and attributes, (b) technical skills and management of care, (c) work environment and co-workers, and (d) caring and caring behaviors. To understand what it means to be a good nurse and do the right thing is a complex task; however, this research adds to the small amount of empirical data that exists to describe those characteristics