Reasons for choosing and completing nursing studies among incoming and outgoing students: A qualitative study

The shortage of nurses is causing instability and crisis in health systems and will continue. The WHO reinforced the importance of recruiting and retaining new students. Authors of various studies recommend the need to identify and understand the reasons for pursuing a nursing degree.

To determine students' preference for nursing studies and to identify the reasons for choosing, continuing, and completing a bachelor's degree in nursing.

Qualitative, descriptive study.

106 nursing students at the University of Huelva (Spain) participated during their first year (2017) and final year (2021) of the nursing degree.

This study was conducted with the same group of students in two phases. Data were collected in writing in a document with open-ended questions and no maximum wordcount. The responses were analysed using content analysis.

A total of 76.4 % of participants stated that nursing had been their first choice. The main reasons for choosing a nursing degree were associated with fulfilment, and a desire to help others and interact with them. The reasons for completing their studies were primarily related to an interest in providing professional care, showing a deeper and more concrete knowledge of nursing care work.

For most participants, nursing was their first choice due to a strong intrinsic motivation related to self-satisfaction in helping others. The reasons for completing this degree had extrinsic motivations linked to nursing activity in hospital. Areas such as management, teaching, or research were not interesting to our students. Knowing the causes of this lack of interest could help us attract them to these areas.