Nursing careers: What motivated nurses to choose their profession?

Abstract

"This paper considers self-reported reasons for choosing to be a nurse and intentions\nrelated to remaining in the profession. The data are drawn from a survey of\nWestern Australian Registered Nurses which was part of a broader study of\nissues for recruitment and retention of nurses in the context of current labour\nmarket opportunities for women. The paper finds that what we have termed the\n‘intrinsic attraction’ of nursing has been a key element in the decision to enter\nnursing for the bulk of nurses, while ‘employment security’ aspects of the job are\nalso a focus. Interestingly, only a minority of nurses rated the ‘extrinsic rewards’\nhighly as a factor in decision making. The paper notes that there are some areas\nof significant difference in nursing career selection motivation between older\nand younger nurses, this finding does have policy implications for both health\nauthorities and employers."