Abstract
Introduction: In Slovenia, nursing students and professionals do not yet have the possibility for specialized career development. The aim of the study is to determine the students' plans for their career development and their views on nursing specialization. Methods: Data were collected via an online questionnaire (alpha = 0.82). The sample included students from three faculties in Slovenia that offer nursing programmes. 385 questionnaires were returned. Data analysis was performed with the SPSS software (version 20.0): t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation and factor analysis. Results: 258 (67 %) of respondents would continue their studies. The specializations most often identified are: urgent medical assistance (20 %), anaesthesiology and intensive therapy (14 %) and surgical care (11 %) and so forth. Older students choose reasons that are linked more to nursing, while younger students choose reasons that are linked more to medicine. It is more characteristic of men to put an emphasis on economic reasons for developing specializations (t = 0.552, p = 0.011). Students in a more senior year (F = 2.407, p = 0.041) or with a higher average grade put an emphasis on reasons for specializations that are linked to nursing. Discussion and conclusion: Students view specializations as necessary to ensure a sustainable health care system in Slovenia and as an option for continuing their studies.
Highlights
In Slovenia, nursing students and professionals do not yet have the possibility for specialized career development
In addition to the demographic data (Table 1), the first set of questions in the questionnaire asked the students about their wishes regarding continued career development in nursing
A total of 258 (67 %) respondents would continue studies in the field of nursing. 107 (28 %) respondents expressed doubts about continuing their studies. 156 (41 %) respondents would continue their studies in a narrower specialized field, while 60 (15 %) would continue it in a nursing master's degree programme. 113 (30 %) respondents would take a job in nursing without continuing their studies, 27 (7 %) would continue their studies in a different master's degree programme, 26 respondents were not yet considering career development, and 3 (1 %) students would leave the profession and look for employment in another field
Summary
In Slovenia, nursing students and professionals do not yet have the possibility for specialized career development. The economic and social crisis, altered demographical structure of the populace, increased occurrence of chronic illnesses and so on strongly affect both the organisation of the health care system and nursing around the world (Požun & Skela Savič, 2011). Due to the altered structure of the populace and its health care needs and other factors, new opportunities for nursing are arising (Rod, 2009). The development of postgraduate specialist knowledge in the field of nursing started relatively early, in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, Canada and Great Britain, as a response to the shortage of doctors, the changing demographic structures of the populace (an aging population and thereby an increase in patients with chronic illnesses), the growing needs of the populace for affordable health care services, the constantly growing health care costs etc. Specializations in nursing became an important and indispensable part of the health care system (Delamaire & Lafortune, 2010)
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