Abbas Al Mutair* and Fatimah Redwan
Aim of the study: To identify the attitudes of undergraduate Saudi nursing students towards studying nursing profession.
Background: Nursing profession is the backbone of the healthcare services and nurses in the workplace should be accountable to deliver high-quality of care. The Saudi Society, cultural forces and values influence nursing profession and its development. Assessment of undergraduate attitudes towards nursing profession is vital as it can help to identify the potential barriers, deficits and challenges to conquer them.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was administered. The survey design was intended to identify the undergraduate Saudi nursing students’ attitudes towards studying nursing profession. Questionnaires were randomly distributed to 250 nursing students. Descriptive statistics were employed to identify the students’ attitudes towards the profession.
Results: A total of 141 students completed the survey questionnaires giving a response rate of 56.4%. The participating students 70 (52%) indicated that the most commonly reason to choose studying nursing was their own interest. Most of the students (48.90%) agreed that their English language proficiency is the hardest in the nursing program. The results showed that students favor to work on direct patient care rather than holding managerial or educational tasks. Generally speaking, the students’ families and friends had positive attitudes towards nursing profession.
Conclusion: The nursing students and families in Saudi Arabia had strong positive attitudes towards studying nursing profession. Universities in Saudi Arabia are to increase enrolling students to study nursing and should commit to graduate highly competent nurses to compensate the nursing shortage. Lack of students’ awareness of workplace literacy requirements might lead to difficulty in designing appropriate curriculum.
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