Occupational Status in BSc Graduates of Nursing, Operating Room, Anesthesia Technology and Midwifery Fields in School of Nursing and Midwifery, Zanjan, Iran

Background and Objective: Assessment of the condition of medical science graduates, especially in the field of nursing and midwifery, is of paramount importance. This research aimed to determine the occupational status in BSc graduates of nursing, operating room, anesthesia technology and midwifery fields in School of Nursing and Midwifery, Zanjan, Iran in the past five years. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional research was conducted on 560 graduates of nursing, operating room, Anesthesia Technology, and midwifery fields, graduated from the school of nursing and midwifery during the academic years of 2010-2015. Data were collected through telephone interviews and a researcher-made questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 22 using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: In this research, data of 487 out of 560 graduates were analyzed due to the lack of access to some of the individuals. According to the results, more than 85% of graduates from the nursing, operating room, anesthesia technology and midwifery fields, who graduated during 2010-2015, were employed, whereas 3% of the subjects in each field of study were unemployed. Moreover, more than 70% of the employees in each field of study had government occupations. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, most of the graduates in nursing, midwifery, operating room and Anesthesia Technology fields were recruited by government sections. Awareness of the occupational status and distribution of graduates of fields related to medical sciences can facilitate the estimation of student admission capacity and provide human resources to the community. D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 5 :5 2 IR S T o n S at ur da y O ct ob er 1 9t h 20 19 [ D O I: 10 .2 92 52 /e dc j.1 0. 27 .1 ] Occupational Status of Nursing and Midwifery School Graduates 2 Journal of Medical Education Development , Vol 10, No 27 Autumn, 2017 Introduction One of the key elements of association between scientific knowledge and its applications in the realization of economic enhancements is the higher education system. The most important mission of this system is training expert and efficient human resource due to the possibility of laying the foundation for the development of the country by this group of people (1). However, changes in the structure of societies affect the need for various skills and abilities. Therefore, it is significantly crucial for the higher education system to adapt to these structural changes. In all countries, special attention is paid to the issue of higher education in order to meet the needs of society by training efficient and skilled workforce (2). Higher education has a special place in human capital theory, according to which human resources are in fact holders of capital due to the skills obtained from higher education. It could be stated that educational services are not a form of consumption, but a type of investment performed in the area of human resources (3). The dual role of human resource in achieving development goals is significantly considered since workforce acts both as the factor for and target of development (4). Given the fact that one of the important factors for sustainable development is the use of all human resources, it seems necessary to pay attention to the outcomes and feedback of the educated population to have constant development and improvement in the society (5). Moreover, increase of human resource in international societies to promote the health level of human beings, decrease of mortality and disabilities and higher elimination of diseases are crucial for achieving development goals (6). In most countries, one of the main factors for providing qualitative and quantitative services is trained human resources. The same applies to the healthcare section of any society (7), where extended healthcare needs have resulted in increased demand for workforce in all countries (8). In addition, the issue of reform in the medical sciences and health section has been taken into account and implemented by all countries of the world. Improvement of health has a special importance among all development goals, achieving of which makes the development process more sustainable (7). Due to the significant importance of the role of human resources, most countries allocate a considerable budget to the evaluation of the human resources in their medical science section (9). One of the important goals of planning for human resources in the medical D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 5 :5 2 IR S T o n S at ur da y O ct ob er 1 9t h 20 19 [ D O I: 10 .2 92 52 /e dc j.1 0. 27 .1 ] 3 Dinmohammadi et al Journal of Medical Education Development , Vol 10, No 27 Autumn, 2017 science is having a sufficient number of efficient and high-quality workforces in this area, which is also important for estimating the needs of the country (7). Generally, the executive units of higher education system are responsible for estimating the society needs for training specialized human resources in the medical sciences and supplying the human resources required by the health and treatment section of universities (10). One of the largest providers of healthcare services is nursing and midwifery groups, which play a major role in the care, promotion, and maintenance of health at different levels of the healthcare system (11). Every year, many resources are spent by the government and families for the education of this group. Therefore, it seems crucial to have knowledge about the condition of related graduates (6). Moreover, education of professional human resources in the healthcare system based on the society needs and changes is one of the important components in the assessment of the efficiency of universities of medical sciences (3). Today, most of the countries are faced with the crisis of human resources in their healthcare system, one of the most prominent examples of which is lack of workforce in the nursing and midwifery departments. Studies have shown that the highest level of shortage in human resources of nursing and midwifery departments will be observed by 2020, which prevents achieving the global goals of healthcare systems (2). Health care officials have repeatedly pointed out the lack of human resources in nursing and midwifery departments, considering it the cause of some problems in the healthcare system (12). In recent years, one of the main economic, social and cultural challenges of Iran has been the situation of graduates after graduation, especially their occupational status (3). Evaluation of post-graduation status of nursing and midwifery groups can provide important information about the professional roles and performance of graduates for authorities, who can modify the distribution of medical staff according to these data and provide future plans in terms of student admission capacity, graduation condition, necessity of human resources and recruitment conditions (6). Given the high cost of education in fields of nursing and midwifery, and with regard to the fact that people working in medical science groups directly deal with the lives of humans, evaluation of the status of graduates in medical sciences, especially nursing and midwifery groups, is of paramount important. D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 5 :5 2 IR S T o n S at ur da y O ct ob er 1 9t h 20 19 [ D O I: 10 .2 92 52 /e dc j.1 0. 27 .1 ] Occupational Status of Nursing and Midwifery School Graduates 4 Journal of Medical Education Development , Vol 10, No 27 Autumn, 2017 Therefore, it seems necessary to determine the student attraction capacity in nursing and midwifery departments in a way that there would be no excessive number of unemployed students or lack of workforce in these fields of study. Receiving feedback from the graduates as the main customers of the output of the education system can be used to provide the necessary solutions. Given the lack of any report on graduates of nursing and midwifery from the school of nursing and midwifery of Zanjan, Iran in the past five years, and with regard to the importance of this issue, this study aimed to determine the status of graduates of nursing and midwifery school. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in 2016-2017 on 560 graduates of nursing, anesthesia technology, operating room and midwifery, who were graduated during 2010-2015. Sampling was performed by officials of the education department of the school after receiving the approvals from the research deputy of the university with the ethical code of ZUMS.REC.1396.147. Education department officials referred to educational files of students, then explained the objectives of the research to graduates via phone calls and obtained their informed consent prior to the completion of the research-made questionnaire. Data collection tool included a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of questions on gender, the field of study, graduation year, and occupation. Other questions were designed to evaluate the occupation components, including occupational status, a continuation of education, conscription status, employment related to the field of study, and location of occupation. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed based on the opinions of 10 faculty members and its reliability was estimated at the Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88 using retest. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 22 using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results In this research, data of 487 out of 560 were assessed due to lack of access to the information of some of the graduates. According to the results, 173 (35.5%), 111 (22.7%), 112 (23%), and 91 (18.7%) subjects were graduates of fields of nursing, operating room, anesthesia technology, and midwifery, respectively. In total, 37% of the nursing graduates were male and 63% were female. In addition, 33.3% and 66.7% of the operating D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. a