title: Why not nursing? Factors influencing healthcare career choice among Singaporean students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Internationally, and particularly in Singapore, health education institutions are facing challenges in attracting school leavers to enter nursing courses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To identify the factors influencing the career choice of Singaporean healthcare students and determine the deterrents in choosing nursing as a career choice.
  
  
  METHODS
  An exploratory descriptive qualitative study design was used.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-nine healthcare students from three higher education institutions were recruited.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four nursing and four non-nursing focus groups discussion were held. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six themes emerged as follows: 'personal interest'; 'prior healthcare exposure'; 'job prospects'; 'academic performance'; 'perceived nature of work'; and 'social influences'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The personal interests to help and care along with prior healthcare exposures were found to influence the students' choice. Job prospects such as the ease of getting a job, job stability, and job salary were considered. Nursing was perceived as a course for students with poor academic ability. Misconceptions about the nature of work and a lack of social recognition were identified as deterring factors in students' choice of nursing as a career.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An understanding of the career decision process among healthcare students enables educational leaders and policy-makers to enhance the focus of nursing recruitment strategies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Strategies for nursing recruitment in Singapore must include creating more opportunities for exposure to nursing in early school years, reviewing the admission policies for nursing programmes to attract academically abled students, ensuring that nursing graduates' salaries are comparable with other healthcare graduates, promoting a better understanding on the role of a registered nurse and its career developments, and providing support for those who are interested in nursing but are faced with career decision-making difficulties due to their families.
authors.affiliation: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Liaw
authors.affiliation: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: L T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Holroyd
authors.affiliation: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.|Pi Iota Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Y L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chow
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D009729:Nursing; D012846:Singapore; D013334:Students; D013338:Students, Nursing; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Career Choice; Career Decision; Focus Groups; Nursing; Qualitative Recruitment; Singapore