Discontinued students in nursing education – Who and why?

•Nowadays students' ability to connect different roles during study affects their well-being and ability to handle studies.•Support systems need to be identified that provide support to all students in their individual circumstances.•Worldwide more nurses are needed than are graduating. Students who leave nursing education perpetuate this shortage.

There has been increasing interest in student nurse attrition due to the high level of attrition rates in many countries. Studies about nursing education and attrition have been conducted internationally, but only a few have explored attrition from the perspective of the students' own experiences. The purpose of this study was to describe who is a discontinued student in nursing education and the students' own experiences of reasons for leaving a nursing school. A descriptive design and qualitative approach was used. 25 nursing students were interviewed at two different universities of applied sciences in Finland. Four different types of discontinued nursing students were identified: those who moved to another school, those who faced a life crisis, those who made the wrong career choice and those who lived 'busy years'. The results show that the nursing student population is diverse, which has an effect on the students' career intentions, their learning and their ability to cope with studies. In nursing education, it is important to identify students who are at risk of discontinue their studies and develop individual support systems to help nursing students complete their studies and enter into the workforce.