Abstract:

The shortage of human resources in healthcare is a global problem and directly affects the sustainability of health systems around the world. Nurses and midwives make up the majority of the healthcare workforce. Practical training is an important stage which aims to train the behaviour of professionals ready to meet the challenges of the nursing and midwifery professions. It allows the students to start moving towards the desired health sector for their future professional realization since their studies.

The study was conducted in October 2022 at the Faculty of Public Health of the Medical University – Plovdiv among 3rd-year students, majoring in Nursing and Midwifery. Data were collected through an anonymous survey. SPSS v.23 was used for statistical processing.

A total of 76 students participated – 25 (32.9%) from the midwifery speciality and 51 (67.1%) from the nursing speciality. This was 70.7% of all third-year students from both majors. All participants were women. Most of the respondents (78.9%) were between 21 and 25 years of age.

A large proportion (60.5%) of the participants have chosen the department where they want to start work after graduation, with nurses being more confident in their choice than midwives, the difference being statistically significant at p=0.003. Preferred departments for midwives are a maternity ward (44.0%) and a gynaecology ward (36.0%), and for the future nurses – an intensive department (21.6%) and a surgical department (17.6%). The psychiatric and infectious departments were not indicated by anyone as preferred places of work after graduation. More than half of the respondents (55.3%) prefer to work in the private sector. Almost all participants (93.4%) want to work in a big city.

Almost half of the respondents (52.6%) prefer working with elderly patients, and 38.2% have no preferences. Age has a statistically significant influence on the choice at p=0.014 – 68.8% of students over 25 years of age have no preferences, while among younger students, the relative share of those who do not mind the age of their future patients was 30.0%.

The age of the respondents has a statistically significant influence when choosing a workplace, influenced by the prestige of the medical institution (p=0.004), for 78.3% of the younger students the prestige is important, while for the older ones, this relative share is 37.5%.

The leading criteria for choosing a workplace are the opportunity for development and labour remuneration.

Students who declare their intention to stay working in Bulgaria were 90.8% of all. The relative share of those who expect a quick realization on the labour market is large (89.5%), and 93.4% already have job offers after graduation.

The relative share of future health workers who wish to upgrade their education is 85.5%, just as many would enrol in postgraduate training courses.

We may conclude that nursing students are more oriented in their career choices after graduation. The leading criteria for choosing a workplace are the opportunities for professional realization. More than 90% of students intend to study in Bulgaria. Nursing and midwifery students expect a quick realization on the labour market, and as many as 93.4% have already been offered a job.

Keywords:

Nurses, midwives, realization, attitudes.