International, multi-ethnic high school students' perception of nursing as a career choice

The worldwide nursing shortage has drawn attention to the need to better understand strategies that would interest youth in becoming profession nurses. But it remains unclear as to whether the message of benefits, challenges, and opportunities in contemporary nursing are reaching these youth. This study explored perceptions among an international, multiethnic group of high school students from Israel (N = 216) and the US (N = 114). These students completed the Attitudes, Values, and Beliefs Questionnaire. A two-sided Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test revealed that both groups of students perceived an ideal career as having more power and more positive evaluation than a career in nursing would, suggesting that the ideal career would provide more authority, respect, and appreciation in society than nursing. Nursing was perceived to have more activity than the students would have wanted. In general, the US students viewed nursing more favorably than those in Israel. Both groups of students placed an equally high perception of nurses as “caring for people,” “working in a safe place,” and “working with technology.” They had an equally low perception that “nursing is easy” and “nurses work only in hospitals.” Regardless of cultural differences, there may be many forces or obstacles both in Israel and the US to minimize nursing's power and potential to change. The image of nursing as a helping profession may be basic to how nurses are perceived in the two counties. In order to meet the growing demand for nurses, endeavors must begin to provide accurate, meaningful information to potential nursing students. This would include descriptions of a variety of advanced practice nurses and of opportunities for professional practice in other than hospital settings.