RCN urges children to go into nursing
A new survey commissioned by the RCN revealed only 1 in 20 children and young people said that nursing was the job they most wanted to do. The YoungPoll survey of over 8,600 seven to 17 year olds showed that ‘helping people’ was one of the most important factors in career choice. Despite this, nursing appeared to be the least preferred career in the public sector, with police, teachers, doctors and firefighters all rated higher.
RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, Dr. Peter Carter, said:
‘With nearly 200,000 nurses due to retire in the next decade, we’ve all got a responsibility to tell people about the benefits of a career in nursing. It’s clear that the image of nursing does not reflect the reality. Modern nursing is a dynamic career, providing an incredibly broad range of opportunities and a real chance to have an interesting, successful career that makes a real difference to other people’s lives. Often older recruits join the profession after becoming disillusioned with seemingly more popular careers and wish they had done so years earlier. We want more young people to join the profession and experience all it has to offer earlier.’
Saffron Brown, a second-year nursing student at the University of Northumbria, said:
‘Having come into nursing straight from school, I feel proud to be training for a life long career in which I aim to genuinely help people. Even as a student nurse, as well as directly caring for patients, I am starting to get involved in the broader personal and professional development opportunities available to nurses to help improve healthcare.’
Teaching opportunities in the private sector – 06/03/09
