Faculty influence on nursing students' preferences for practice

To ascertain if faculty preferences affect students' preferences for nursing practice, this study investigated: 1) the convergence of students' preferences with those of their clinical faculty and 2) students' perceptions of faculty characteristics associated with their practice preferences at the completion of a clinical course. Fourteen faculty and 170 junior baccalaureate nursing students were measured at three points in time to determine student preferences for indirect-direct involvement in patient care. Findings did not support the convergence of students' preferences with those of faculty as they progressed through the course. At the completion of the course multiple regressions revealed that students' preferences were associated with preferences they attributed to faculty, their perceptions of faculty reputation among students, students' clinical grades, and their preferences for nursing practice before and after six weeks of the course.