Contemporary image of nursing profession: an explorative study of Bihar state

Background: Nurses currently contributing more than half of the manpower in the health sector and play a significant role in it, that is why the health sector is largely dependent on them but still they are largely invisible among people and their capabilities are limited in the field of their work that under-represents them. It has also been observed that many people have positive perception towards image of nursing profession which has become widely evident during COVID-19. The study aimed to determine the college students� perception towards the contemporary image of the nursing profession. Methods: A quantitative research approach and descriptive cross-sectional research design were used. By adopting the purposive sampling technique, 420 college students were selected from the colleges and universities of Bihar. Data collected via online Based-Google form and analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Out of 420 student participants, 97.4% have positive perception and 2.6% students have negative perception towards contemporary image of nursing profession. Most of the responses were in positive feedback such as, nurses are hardworking, knowledgeable, they are vital to health care delivery system whereas few were in contrary. There was a statistically significant association found between socio-demographic variables and perceived image of nursing profession as depicted in domiciliary (p= 0.010) and educational status of father (p= 0.058), at the p-value <0.05 (typically ?0.05). Conclusions: The study concluded that there is a positive perception among college students towards contemporary image of nursing profession.