Aims: to estimate the proportion of nursing students in Hungary who intend to graduate from a nursing program and intend to work as a nurse after graduation.
Methods: a cross-sectional, mail survey was implemented. A total of 381, purposively selected, final year students returned the survey instrument developed by the researchers. The survey was conducted in 3 of the total 7 nationwide nursing schools.
Results: the rate of estimated student attrition ranged between 7 and 20%. Students were most satisfied with the mentoring and support received from faculty, and were least satisfied with their future career as a nurse. The most important factors that predicted intent to graduate and work after graduation were satisfaction with faculty support and clinical experiences, influence from family/peers to leave nursing, and intent to work abroad.
Conclusions: self-reported student attrition was prevalent in the sample studied. Students ranked faculty support as the top influence to graduate and work as a nurse after graduation. The finding that family/peers had negative influence on students' intent to graduate requires further exploration. Provision of strong, continuous support to faculty members by the school administration seems the best, but not the only counter attack against student attrition.
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