Carees Trends of Nursing Students in the Context of Career Preference planning

Objective: To find the career preferences of the selected group of students - nurses of the Master’s study program Nursing. Respondents and methodology: The data were collected in the months of September-October 2022. The selection of respondents was intentional, the conditions for inclusion in the study were consent to anonymous filling in of the questionnaire, performance of the profession of a nurse, current study in the Master’s degree Nursing program. A total number of 155 respondents took part in the survey. The collected data were processed with the aid of non-parametric statistical tests. Results: The average age of the nurses in our group was 27.7 years, and the average number of years of experience was 4.8 years. Almost 43.2% of nurses want to stay working in clinical practice; 38.7% of nurses are interested in a managerial position; 18% want to work as a teacher. Nurses are not interested in research in nursing. Within the career trends in nursing, the most preferred post was the school nurse. There was no statistically significant difference in the age of the respondents according to their field of career (p=0.41) or according to their preference of application (p=0.36). The perception of managerial and pedagogical skills of the respondents did not correlate with age or length of experience. Conclusion: Nursing students' career preferences change as they progress through their training: nursing career planning and management; career growth increase job satisfaction; provision of quality and safe nursing care. The students of the study program Nursing show great ambivalence in their ideas about their future career. This opens wide possibilities for educators, managers, mentors, and nurses in practice to significantly positively influence and formation the career preferences of students.