Choosing nursing as a career: a qualitative study.

It is widely accepted that nursing as a career is viewed favourably by society in that it offers job security, mobility and career variety. The main reason for choosing nursing in the 21st century remains the desire to help and care for others, as this paper demonstrates. The findings presented here are part of an on-going longitudinal study which is exploring whether mode of selection into nursing has an impact on a number of variables, of which, career choice is one. The aim of this paper is to identify why non-mature under-graduate students choose nursing as a career and to determine what factors influence this decision. An exploratory-descriptive design, employing a qualitative approach was used. Following receipt of ethical approval, data were collected using focus group interviews and content analysis was employed. Participants were students on a general nursing programme delivered in a large Irish Higher Education Institute. Interviews took place within the first 3 months of the programme, prior to the first clinical placement. It emerged that although nursing was not everybody's first career choice, all participants had sought a career which involved caring. Family or friends in the profession played a role in influencing participants' career selection.