Nursing Education and the Workplace: Perceptions of Nursing Graduates

Abstract

Objectives: describe and analyze how graduate students in nursing perceive the training process and the work world in health and nursing. Materials and methods: This is a qualitative, descriptive study of an exploratory nature developed at Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro School of Nursing in Brazil. Thirty graduate students took part. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and examined via thematic content analysis. Results: The following empirical category emerged from the analysis: dynamicity and complexity of the work world and training: the nursing graduate’s perception. This category yielded two subcategories: characteristics of the contemporary work world and factors associated with the nursing profession that can interfere with the nurse’s work. Conclusions: Those who took part in the study offered a critical point of view and a macrostructural vision of the contemporary work world, one that is similar to the discussion of work among sociologists and scholars on the subject. As for the profession, the participants emphasized the lack of professional recognition and the social stigma that surrounds nursing. They also understand this situation is associated with historical, cultural, religious, economic and political issues.