RAJIV GANDHI UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH

SCIENCES KARNATAKA BANGALORE .

6. RIEF RESUME OF THE INTENDED WORK

INTRODUCTION
Nursing Calls for utmost self sacrifice.
Face to face the suffering all the while.
Yet maintaining calm & wearing a smile.
She soothes the sick & suffering with her skilled care.
The society owes her lot in raising her image
facilitating her work & speaking for her welfare.
Nursing is no more learned by trial or error & apprenticeship.
It is a discipline that prepares competent Professionals.

Samuel, S.A[1988-89] 1

Nursing is one of the most delightful arts, which needs blending of knowledge,
skills & values. Nursing is a Noble Profession, which requires loving heart & deserve for
compassionate care. Today there are numerous vocations & occupations available to an
individual to choose. But vocational interest & choice of a career do not appear all of a
sudden. They emerge as a result of the developmental process. A nurse is defined as

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someone who nurses or fosters some quality of person, usually a woman, charged or
trained for the care of sick.

The public image of an occupation determines its financial remuneration & also
the type of person who will enter it. When stepping out the gates of school or college,
there is wide variety of careers available & awaiting for youngsters. Young people have
career ideas of their own. Many youngsters, inspite of the wide range of career choices,
instinctively opt for engineering or medicine. One reason could be lack of information.
Especially in the case of Nursing many studies reveal that most adolescents are aware of
the calling & helping nature of Nursing but have little knowledge about the diverse
Nursing career opportunities in teaching, management & administration. 2

The Nursing Profession is changing rapidly, it owes much to the influence of

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), a woman with a vision who is a pioneer of Nursing.
When Nursing was regarded with contempt, Miss Nightingale crusaded to change the
worlds view of a nurse. Her contribution is the education of women, her development of
theories of Nursing Practice and Hygienic techniques, the emphasis on the preparation of
nurses for the care of sick, protection and promotion of health of the individuals and
society are important facts of Nursing Spectrum today. 3

In India, the picture of Nursing Profession is changing day by, day, while Nursing
Profession still suffers a mild degree of so called stigma in certain states of the country. It
is very essential that we must target a younger population. If we have to attract younger
students, we must emphasize life long learning & possibilities that a bound with further
education & credentialing. A study which was conducted by H.T Dave on assessing the
knowledge & attitude towards Nursing Profession showed that 89.5% respondents had
positive attitude towards Nursing but this attitude is not translated into adverse for joining
Nursing. This may be due to some stigma attached to Nursing. 4

6.1. NEED FOR THE STUDY:

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 What do the public think of Nurses? Do they see nurses as nice, but not very
bright girls who hold patients hands & carryout doctors orders or do they regard them as
skilled, independent Professionals with their own area of expertise.

The declaration of Alma Atta in 1978 Health for all by 2000 AD made a great
impact on all Professionals related to health care. Committed to this cause, India made up
its own targets for Achieving health for all through primary health care approach. These
is a great need for more & more Nursing manpower to meet the increasing demands to
provide comprehensive & quality health care to the population of the country.

Nursing is a noble Profession & career of day & night service to the public. The
Nursing that existed before Florence nightingale was a crude form of Nursing. The nurses
at that time were not having good social status & often those nurses were belonging to
lower class of the society. But at present, the conditions have changed a lot. It has now
got a better status in the society. (Deloughery 1988) but the standard of candidates
coming to the Profession especially in Bangalore has declined from past two years. 5

An article which was published in Hindustan times vishal Bal CEO showed that
India was short of two million nurses as per the global average on the number of nurses
required in comparison to the population ratio. The problem apparently has occurred from
the fact that the young generation in the country is not showing interest in nursing jobs.

The WHO accepted global average standard was 2.56 nurses per 1,000 Population
as In against Indias average of point 8 nurses available for per thousand populations.
Nearly 20% of experienced nurses migrated to abroad with many opting for US, UK and
European countries. The health sector was expanding phenomenally with the demand for
the nurses growing day by day.

On the supply side, there were 1597 Nursing schools, 833 nursing graduate
colleges, 97 post graduate Nursing institutions. The institutes trained nearly 5,000

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Nursing diploma holders, 41, 650 graduate nurses and close to 2,000 post graduate
nurses.
There are 2,694, 540 licensed registered nurses in the United States.
Approximately 146,902 RNs are men more than three quarters of all licensed RNs
(81.7%) are employed in the Nursing field. 18.2% of all nurses work in public
(Community health settings).

The average annual earnings for all full time employed RNs are 46, 782. The
average annual salary for a masters prepared nurse is $61, 262; doctorate prepared
nurses average slightly higher at $63,522 6

Predegree is prescribed as basic qualification for admission to almost all the

courses of the study of pure & applied sciences leading to degree or diploma. At this
stage, students have to decide their future career and accordingly selection of courses
after passing pre-university. There have been a heavy rush of students at present seeking
admission to medical and engineering students, selection is usually made on the base of
merit and performance in admission test in utmost all colleges in India. Whatever may be
the criteria of selection, it is important to know why they select some courses and what
they find in actual field. The purpose of selecting a particular course and the nature of the
field, they have to work in must have a relevancy, without which a person becomes
misprinted or misplaced through he/she might not be credited.

The scheme of Pre-University stage was introduced in the state in 1957. as a

substitute for the old intermediate this was made into a two year course I 1972. as the
dept of pre university education. Was established in 1970.

As per the year 1994-95, there was a total of 1893 PU college in the state, from
those institutions there were 3,58,225 students who appeared for the PUC examinations
of which 1,39,110 (38.83%) passed. Similarly for the year April 94 Session, for a total of

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3,30,700 students, 1,24,462 ( 37.64%) appeared & 38432 (26.76%) students passed. This
PU course with science object qualifies a student to appear for the CET for medical &
Engineering degree courses.7

An article named nuidgudi Malayali nurses in Karnatakas hospitals says that

Every hospital in Karnataka, the ratio of malayali nurses to kannadiga nurses is

20:1, this is a some sort of disastrous news.

Karnataka seems to have taken it for granted the Nursing Profession is made for
malayali women. It is sort of suicidal thought. Some of the important questions that arise
are:

1) What are the kannadiga women doing? Why are they not getting into Nursing
schools and becoming nurses?
2) Are kannadiga women finding other jobs because of some sort of widespread
dislike for Nursing?
3) Are Nursing schools partial to malayali women in some way?
4) Are kannadiga women discouraged from working at all?

Exact answers were not found, but it believed that answers are all pointing in the
direction of Karnatakas hospitals having more & more malayali nurses as the time
progresses, & that is a diseases which will consume our woman & thereby our entire
state.
We have to stop this decay, we need to encourage our women. Most of who are
jobless, hopeless, destitute, penniless, illiterate to take to Nursing as a serious Profession.
We have to educate the people to come out of the illusion that women should not work.
We have to educate our women well, so that they can start playing a greater role in the
society. In Karnataka there is only 200 nurse/100000 Population. 8

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 Huff stutler say, Stevensonss, mulling II, Hackett DA, Lambert AW (1998)
conducted a study to evaluate the perceptions of Nursings Image by non Nursing
students, Professionals & other non Nursing individuals. Because the image of Nursing
has been a long standing problem for nurses, an indication of the overall effectiveness of
various individual & group efforts to change the public image of Nursing over the last
several years was examined, Results indicated that the majority of individuals who
participated in the study believed that Nursing is most closing associated with the concept
of caring, even though the meaning & practices of nurse caring was defined very
differently.

In modern society, Professions are given high status, rewards, autonomy than
before pre-degree period is the time where students form ideas in their mind to select a
Profession which they aspire to become. The interaction of several factors makes a
person select or rejects a career. It is limited by many factors like socio economic status,
education, knowledge & attitude. regarding the occupation held by the individual.
Therefore it is necessary to know the individuals socio Economic background, parents
education, their knowledge, about the career & attitude towards the Profession or
vacation which has a direct bearing on the individuals decision to choose Nursing as a
career (Andamuthan, 1986) 9

Indias Nursing advisor T. Dileep Kumar says states like UP, Bihar, Orissa, MP
& Rajasthan are the worst affected by shortage of nurses. Also for every doctor there
should be three nurses. But at present the doctor ratio in India is 1: 15.

A recent survey published in the Nursing journal in India found a tremendously

low interest amongst students wanting to take up Nursing as a Profession. A study of 200
children in pune who opted for biology in Class II found only 39 % interested in Nursing
as a first priority. Their knowledge of Nursing as a Profession was also poor with 66%
students having a knowledge score below 50%.

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 Concluding that a positive attitude towards Nursing did not transmit into a desire
to join Nursing, the study suggested A career guide for Nursing should be developed to
improve the level of knowledge about Nursing. This will help to improve the image of
Nursing.

According to health ministry estimates, by the end of 11th plan (2007-2012), India
will require 10.43 Lakh nurses. But with the existing infrastructure, the number would
stand at just 6.4 Lakh, short by 3.59 lakhs.

Health minister A Ramadoss said Indias National Rural health mission requires
a large no of nurses to serve at primary health Centers. Today nurses are sheet anchor of
our total health care delivery system.10

The investigator during her practical experience in Pre-University period noticed

that students had very little option to choose Nursing as a career as they had lack of
knowledge on career opportunities in Nursing Profession. Presently the number of
students getting admitted to nursing courses in many schools and colleges of Bangalore
has been gradually declines ad compared to before. Hence the investigator decided to
conduct the above study and to enhance the students knowledge and career opportunities
available in Nursing Profession.

6.1.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK.

Leininger, transcultural nursing theory can be adopted for the present study
(1995). It comprises of model which depicts the rising sun with four levels of foci, the
model includes social culture and world view, that influence the health care through
language and environment. Leininger model is the basis for the development of other
nursing cultural assessment model, As the present study aims in assessing the socio
cultural factors influencing the nursing profession, it satisfies all the necessary reasons to
adopt Leiningers Transcultural nursing theory.11

6.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

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 Review of literature involves systematic identification, location, security &
survey of the written materials that contains information on research problem. A
summary of the writings of recognized authors on previous research provides evidence
that the researcher is familiar with what is already known & what is still unknown &
untested (Best 1995).

H.T Dave (2007) conducted a study to determine the knowledge and attitude
towards Nursing Profession among male and female students in selected higher
secondary schools at Gujarat. The objective of the study was to evaluate the perceptions
of the Nursing image by high school students. A total of 200 samples (100 male and 100
female students) who opted science group in their pre-university were selected by cluster
sampling method. Structured questionnaire and 1-4 likert scale was used as a tool for
collection of data and data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical
techniques. The results showed that the students knowledge about Nursing was low.
Female students showed slightly better knowledge than male. There was a positive
attitude towards Nursing among students. However, the positive attitude was not
transmitted into a desire to join Nursing. There was no significant difference in attitude
among male and female students. Students from monthly high income group showed less
positive attitude towards Nursing compared to medium and low income group students. 12

Abaan (2000) conducted a study to investigate the image of Nursing in Turkey. In

this study public perceptions of Nursing were analyzed from newspaper
acknowledgements. Data were collected from the daily Hurriyet. Early newspaper was
screened for thank you acknowledgements from patients & families. The message in
each notice was evaluated through semantic analysis for its representation of Nursing.
Words used in the notices were categorized for images, states of Profession, Nursing, care
constructs & the intent of patients & families. In 90 notices 70% addressed Nursing
Professional & nurses directly 22% individually & 8% did not mention Nursing. The
average print size was 15 points for physicians, 13 points for non-Professionals & 7 point
for nurses. The largest point size for physicians was 48 points, others 40 points, & for

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nurses 15. The data indicated that Nursing ranked low as an acknowledged Profession by
patients. The most frequently used words about Nursing were nurse is lead nurse which
did not see to reflect Nursing activities in a Professional context. 13

Foong and Roster (1999) conducted a study on 19 high school students in Hong
Kong to elicit their perceptions of Nursing as a Profession. The study also sought to
gauge the extent of the students intentions on passing a career in Nursing. Responses
were analyzed to determine the extent of knowledge & understanding held intentions on
choosing Nursing or a career & their reasons. Findings suggest that image of Nursing to
be poor & that Nursing as a career is far from desirable among the teenagers of Hong
Kong. The reasons appear to be related to the notion of monetary reward & status within
Hong Kong community. There is also lack of knowledge as to what nurse do the
implications of such finding include test potential for recruitment of candidates of high
caliber with a lot of offer to the Profession & their society.14

Huffstutler, Stevenson, Mulling, Hockett & Lambert (1998) conducted a study to

identify publics image of Nursing as described to Baccalaureate pre-nursing students in
U,S. A. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the perceptions of Nursing image by
non-Nursing students, Professionals & other non-Nursing individuals. 277 freshmen &
sophomore pre-nursing students enrolled in a required two credit hour Nursing
orientation course collected data. Each of the pre-Nursing students interviewed three
different individuals as a class project for the course. The 831 individuals interviewed,
constituted or sample of convenience. In response to the open ended question Nursing is
- - - , majority of the participants responded that Nursing is a caring & helping
Profession. The response for the opinion of the nurse was nurses are caring, individuals
who perform interventions in order to help others etc, The response for the statement the
most important requirement for becoming a nurse was helping, compassionate, kind, and
sacrificial & dedicated. 15

Gal bearth (1991) conducted a study in California to find out why men are
attracted to Nursing & what will they find important in their careers. This study was

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designed to increase the understanding of the career choice of men in non-traditional
careers such as Nursing by exploring what they find important in their career, their sex
role identity & their personality components. The instruments used in the study were the
important components for career scale, Bem sele role inventory & Catters 16 personality
factor measure. Questionnaire pockets were mail to a total of 1,000 potential respondents
in the following five group male & female nurses & Early educators & male engineers.
The response rate was 46%. The men in Nursing (n=57) & Early education (n=76).
Valued relationship oriented components of their careers more than the man in
engineering (n=103). 16

King J, Hardie K, Conway J conducted a study to find out the perceptions of high
school careers advisers regarding Nursing, this was study conducted in Australia, the
study findings suggest that careers advisers recognize the complexity of Nursing practice
in providing direct patent care & the range of attributes required for the registered nurse
who provides this care. Careers advisers recognized that Nursing had changed over the
past ten years, although few perceived the roles & responsibilities of nurses to extend
beyond activities relate to patient care. Their were few requests for information about
Nursing as a career from careers advisers & the findings indicates that they do not
actively promote Nursing as a career. This suggests that despite a range of initiatives to
promote registered Nursing as a career choice, Careers advisers are not influencing
significant numbers of school students to consider registered Nursing as a career.
However, the findings indicated that the respondents knowledge base about the Nursing
Profession & the individuals who practice Nursing was very limited. 17

John E, tas (1984) conducted a study on expectation & attainment of Nursing

careers among the 12th grade students during the year 1971 1972. The data were
provided by the National Longitudinal study of 768 youths who were followed high
school through young Adulthood. The design of the study involved classification of the
sample into three groups. 1. Those who expected to become nurses when in high school
& did so. 2. Those who expected to become nurses in high school but did not &
3. Those who had other occupational expectations in high school but became nurses.

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 These three recruitment types were analyzed in term of variables of socio
economic status, time of occupation of choice & race of the respondent of which greater
emphasis jaws given to socio-economic status, race & Aptitude. The findings indicated
that the socio-economic backgrounds of the three groups of Nursing recruits were
significantly different. It was found that high school students who planned to become
nurses but had failed to achieve their goal & those who did not plan end became nurses
were from low socio-economic background & they also had low aptitude. On the other
hand students (34%) who planned to become nurses & did so came from high & middle
socio-economic background & they also had high aptitude.18

6.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A study to assess the knowledge and attitude on Nursing Profession among
students of Pre-University Colleges at Rajajinagar Bangalore.

6.4) OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1) To assess the knowledge on Nursing Profession among students of Pre-
University Colleges at Rajajinagar, Bangalore.
2) To assess the attitude on Nursing Profession among students of Pre-University
Colleges at Rajajinagar, Bangalore.
3) To correlate the knowledge & attitude on Nursing Profession among students of
Pre-University Colleges at Rajajinagar, Bangalore.
4) To associate the knowledge on Nursing Profession among students of Pre-
University Colleges at Rajajinagar, Bangalore with selected demographic
variables.
5) To associate the attitude on Nursing Profession among students of Pre-
University Colleges at Rajajinagar, Bangalore with selected demographic
variables.
6.5) OPERATIONAL DEFINITION.
Knowledge:

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 It is the information or awareness possessed by the Pre-University students on
Nursing Profession through previous experiences.
Attitude:
It refers to the feelings and thinking on Nursing Profession among students of
Pre-University Colleges at Rajajinagar, Bangalore.
Nursing Profession:
It is a kind of noble job which is having specialized body of knowledge and skill
that is devoted for the optimum health of human welfare.

Pre-University college students:

It refers to the male & female students studying in final year pre-university with
science group from selected colleges of Bangalore.

6.6 ASSUMPTION:
Students may have inadequate knowledge on Nursing Profession.
Students may have unfavorable attitude towards Nursing Profession.

6.7 HYPOTHESIS:

H01: There is no significant relationship between knowledge and attitude on

Nursing Profession among students of Pre-University Colleges at
Rajajinagar, Bangalore.
H02: There is no significant association between the knowledge on
Nursing Profession among Pre-university students with selected
demographic variables
H03: There is no significant association between the attitude on Nursing
Profession among Pre-university students with selected demographic
variables

6.8 INCLUSION & EXCLUSION CRITERIA:-

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Inclusion Criteria:-
1) II year Pre-University students of selected Colleges at Rajajinagar, Bangalore
2) The students who belong to science group only
3) The students who are in the age group between 15-17 years
Exclusion Criteria:-
1) Students who are sick and absent during the time of study.
2) Students who are having Nursing Professionals in their families or relatives
3) Students who are not willing to participate in the study.
6.9 DELIMITATION:
The study is delimited to final year PUC students who have chosen science group
in the academic year of 2008, studying at selected PUC colleges.

7 MATERIAL & METHODS

7.1 Sources of data : Data will be collected from
Students of Pre-University Colleges
at Rajajinagar, Bangalore.

7.2 Method of collection of data

a. Research design : Descriptive survey design.

b. Settings : Selected P.U colleges at Rajajinagar, Bangalore
c. Population : II year Pre university students of colleges at Rajajinagar,
Bangalore
d. Sampling technique : Multistage sampling
e. Sample Size : 100 students
f. Tool : Structured Questionnaire method and rating scale

g. Variables :
1) Study variable - knowledge and Attitude on Nursing Profession

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 2) Extraneous variable Age, Parents Educational Status, Occupation,
Religion, Family income, type of the family, exposure to mass media, etc..

h. Method of data Analysis: Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques

i. Duration of study : 6 8 weeks.
j. Follow up : 2 weeks

k. Projected outcome
The present study helps us to understand the level of students knowledge on
Nursing Profession. It provides an opportunity to create awareness on career
opportunities for youngsters & finally to improve the status of nurses & Nursing
Profession.

7.3 Does the study require any investigation to be conducted on patients or other
human or animals? If so please describe briefly?
Yes, study will be conducted on P.U. students at selected P.U. colleges in Bangalore,
Karnataka.

7.4 Has ethical clearance has been obtained from your institution in case of 7.3?

Yes, informed consent will be obtained from concerned subjects and

authority of institution.
Privacy, confidentiality & anonymity will be guarded.
Scientific objectivity of the study will be maintained with honesty and
impartiality.

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 8. LIST OF REFERENCES :

1. Treece. E.W, Treece J.W, Elements of Research in Nursing, 5th Edition, London:
CV mosby Company, 1988.
2. Grosman D.G and Northrop. C, what high school students think of a Nursing
Career, A survey of Dode Country Senior High schools, Journals of Nursing
Education. 1993 May; 32 (4): 157-162.
3. Sr. Nancy, Principles and practices of Nursing, I Edition Indore: N.R.Brother
publishers, 1991
4. Hodgman C.E High school Students of color tells us what Nursing and college
mean to them, Journal of Professional Nursing, 1999 feb; 15 (2): 95-105.
5. Delonghery G, Issues and Trends in Nursing, 3rd Edition, Mosby Publishers,
St Louis: 1998.
6. Vishal Bali, CEO, India running short of two million nurses, Hindustan times,
2008 March; 15 (5): 21-24.
7. Ravihegde, Evolution of Education in Bangalore, Hand Book of Karnataka,
2008 March; 17 (5): 12-15.
8. Nudigudi, Malayali Nurses in Karnatakas Hospital, (Editorial) 2008 March;
24 (10): 15-20
9. Andermuthan M.K, Nursing as a career A social economic study, The Nursing
journal of India, 1986 September; 77(11): 289-297.

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10. Nurses exodus leaves India short (Editorial) 12 Sept 2007, IST, Kounteyasinha,
TNN.
11. Leddy and Pepper, conceptual basis of Professional nursing, 6th Edition.
Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins publishers, 1986.
12. H.T. Dave, Attitude towards Nursing Profession, the Nursing Journal of India,
2007 September; 998(9): 194-196.
13. Abban s. Nursing Image in Turkey. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 2000; Feb
32(1): 93-95
14. Foong Al & Rossiter JC, Sociocultural Perspectives on the image of Nursing,
The Hong Kong Dimension, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1999 April;
29 (3) : 542-548.
15. Huff Stutler S. Y et al, the public image of Nursing as described to Baccalaurate
Pre-Nursing Students. Journal of Professional Nursing, 1998 Sep; 14(1): 7-13.
16. Keister J, Bakewell K and Meyer D., motivational factors in students choice of
Nursing as a career, journal of Nursing education 1991 August; 15(6): 532-537.
17. Kinger M, student Nurses image of Nursing from entry to training through early
clinical experiences, Journal of Nursing Education 1993 May; 15(6): 309-317.
18. John E. et al., Expectation and attainment of Nursing career, Nursing Research,
March 1984; 33 (4): 235-240.

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