Nursing: idealism x realism. Perspectives about nursing profession from nursing students enrolled in their last semester of the under-graduate program of a nursing school

Abstract

Exploratory and descriptive study with the following objectives: to identify the nursing students' feelings related to the undergraduate course and their perception towards the nursing profession, After the four-year course, 57,4% of students perceived nursing in a positive way as a profession for the future, valued, recognised, compensating even with some limitations, However, 25% of students still perceived nursing as a mechanical, manual and sacrificed profession, with a limited scientific vision and with a gap between theory and practice and as a consequence a lower recognition by the society. If current trends are maintained, the nurse's value would be much greater in the next decades within the Brazilian society according to 61% of respondents.