Background and Objective: Nursing profession has a robust educational pathway into the practice and acontinuously growing body of knowledge within programs in higher education. This study aimed to investigate andcompare between first and fourth year nursing students’ perception toward their profession. Method: The studywas conducted at one of the biggest female governmental universities in Saudi Arabia in the college of nursing. Thestudy involved a convenient sample of 300 currently enrolled bachelors nursing students from the first and fourthyears in the college of nursing. Self-administered questionnaire was used in this study. Results: The majority ofstudy sample have joined the faculty of nursing due to grades foundation year and 50% of them have also a nursefriend or relative. Fourth year students were more proud than first year students when they are talking aboutnursing, and their image was changed to better after clinical training, majority of the participants have a positiveperception toward nursing, and no significant differences in perception of nursing profession between first andfourth year students. Conclusion: There are many students of first and fourth year who have no plans regardingchanging their profession. This may be an indication for a possible decreasing in the shortage of Saudi nurses. Butthere is still a need to improve the public image of nursing to attract students into nursing programs, and advisingshould be provided for students to develop positive perception towards nursing profession.
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