הגורמים העיקריים המניעים סטודנטים לסיעוד בסיום לימודיהם בבחירה בין בית החולים לקהילה כיעד תעסוקה ראשון: ראיונות עם סטודנטים ועם מנהיגים בתחום הסיעוד

Introduction: In Israel, about 70 percent of nurses work in hospitals, and only 20 percent work in primary care within the community. In recent decades, the number and variety of nursing services provided within the community has increased. Consequently, there is a need to examine nurses׳ process of choosing their practice setting and to formulate principles for policies that would encourage recruitment to community nursing.Purpose: To examine the perception of community nursing among nursing students and leaders in the field, and to investigate the factors influencing students when choosing their first post-graduate employment setting.Methods: A qualitative study that included semi-structured in-depth interviews with 17 senior leaders in the nursing field and 15 nursing students who were in their final year at the time of the interview.Findings: Most leaders view community nursing as equal to hospital nursing and think that a career in community nursing should be encouraged among graduates. They perceive the community nurse׳s role as more significant in terms of independent thinking and discretion that the nurse is required to exercise compared to the hospital nurse. Conversely, all nursing students interviewed perceived that working within the hospital contributes more to the nurse׳s professionalism. According to the students, the contribution to changing and promoting patient health in the community is secondary to the possible contribution of the nurse in the hospital. The students׳ set of considerations in choosing a workplace included a sense of belonging, professional challenge and managerial challenge in the first places, while high wages were ranked only fifth, after flexibility in working hours. In the opinion of most leaders, the exposure to community nursing during nursing studies is limited and does not reflect actual practice. Most of the students felt they knew almost nothing about the nurse׳s work in the community versus the nurse׳s role in the hospital.Conclusions and Implications for Nursing: In light of the findings, the nursing curriculum should be revised to expand students׳ exposure to community nursing, and increase the prestige of this field by branding and positioning it as equal to hospital nursing among the general public and within the health care system.