Career Preferences among Nursing Students: A Cross-Sessional Study.

Introduction: It is estimated that mores nurses are needed in the future, nursing students' career preferences are important to contribute the shortage of nursing manpower in Macao. Little is known regarding the preferences for nursing students' career preferences and related factors among nursing students. Objective: To explore and investigate the career preferences and related factors among nursing students in Macao. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey study design was adopted to assess career preferences and related factors among nursing students in Macao. Results: In total, 217 nursing students completed surveys. The most favorite career preferences among nursing students were community health nursing, paediatric nursing, medical surgical nursing, and obstetric & gynecological nursing; while the least career preferences among nursing students were oncology and hospice nursing, mental health nursing, and ER nursing. Factors were related to "gender", "education", and "nursing is my first study preference" among Macao nursing students for career preferences. Conclusion: The senior nursing students prefer working in community health nursing and the junior and female nursing students prefer working in pediatric nursing and obstetric and gynecological nursing. The more understandings of nursing students' career preferences, the better nursing curriculum design and implication to promote nursing students' intention for working in the least career preferences work.

Relationship Between Gerontological Nursing Education and Attitude Toward Older People.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students' attitudes toward older people affect the quality of care provided to the aging population. Although gerontological nursing has been delivered as a stand-alone course in Macao since 2008, Macao nursing students' attitudes toward older people have not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were 1) to explore nursing students' background information and attitudes toward older people and 2) to examine the presence of relationships between these factors and gerontological nursing education in Macao, a special administrative region of China. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. Nursing students in Macao were invited to complete a questionnaire to record their demographic characteristics and gerontological nursing education and measure their attitudes toward older people using Kogan's Attitudes Toward Older People (KAOP) scale. RESULTS: Data from 377 (83.04%) nursing students who returned the questionnaire were analyzed. The students were found to have positive attitudes toward older people, with a mean KAOP score of 168.44 ±â€¯18.38 (mean ±â€¯standard deviation). In particular, the item with the lowest mean score was "older adults have excessive demands for love" (2.5 ±â€¯1.2), while the item with the highest mean score was "older adults need no more love than others" (6.0 ±â€¯1.0). The results also revealed that Macao nursing students' positive attitudes toward older people were associated with having "religion," "good experience in gerontological nursing taught course," and "good experience in clinical practice with older people," which were thus considered to be the predictors of their positive attitudes toward older people. CONCLUSION: Religion and gerontological nursing education are associated with Macao nursing students' attitudes toward older people. A longitudinal study is needed to evaluate the gradual changes in nursing students' attitudes. Nursing students' future career choices and perceptions of gerontological nursing education should be explored in a future study.