Student nurses' career preferences for working with older people: A replicated longitudinal survey

The results show that 8% of the students began their course wanting to work with older people. Overall the ranking of 'working with older people' for commencing students was 7 out of ten. This ranking decreased throughout their course to ultimately become the least desired career choice of graduating nurses with only 3 of the 150 participants stating a desire to work with older people. Career choices, over all, divide along the lines of 'high-tech' and 'low-tech' which support the findings commonly found in the literature. It would appear that socialising factors within the education process, negative clinical experiences and the ageist bias within the broader community play an important role in these student's career choices.