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Student Interest in Perioperative Nursing Practice as a Career
Author(s) -
Happell Brenda
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
aorn journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1878-0369
pISSN - 0001-2092
DOI - 10.1016/s0001-2092(06)61581-0
Subject(s) - perioperative nursing , specialty , nursing , perioperative , nurse education , medicine , psychology , medical education , family medicine , anesthesia
Perioperative nursing is in crisis because of the difficulty recruiting sufficient numbers of graduate nurses and the threat of nonnursing employees performing traditional nursing duties. The relative unpopularity of perioperative nursing as a career choice for graduate nurses is commonly attributed to little exposure to the specialty's theory and practice in undergraduate nursing education programs. This article discusses results of a longitudinal study's first phase to ascertain career preferences of undergraduate nursing students. Findings suggest that when students begin nursing programs, they consider perioperative nursing a favorable career option. Few studies regarding student nurses' attitudes toward perioperative nursing exist, making these results significant. AORN J 71 (March 2000) 600–605.