Factors affecting student choice of nursing career

Development of the nursing profession and address future shortages in the labor force depends largely on the ability to attract young people to enter it, to attract these young people, it should start to identify the important factors that influence their choice of nursing profession. The study aims to identify factors influencing choice of students for the nursing profession. Research was conducted on a sample of 250 students(first-year) in Nursing College atTishreen University. Descriptive research methodologywas followed and questionnaire to collect data was used. Most of student perceived nursing as humanitarian job, 60% of them selected nursing as their first choice. For most students (72.8%), the main reason they chose to study nursing is the desire to help others. They were mostly motivated by their parents to join nursing. Nursing College was the first source of information of nursing. Nearly half of the students made the decision to workin nursing after graduationand (40%) decided to pursue higher education,

Prevalence of smoking habit and associated factors among students of Al- Andalus university of medical sciences

Background: smoking is the major cause of many chronic diseases and a growing public health problem in the world. - Aim: the aim of this study is to determine prevalence of smoking habit and associated factors among students of Al-Andalus university of medical science. - Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from October academic year 2017 to March academic year 2018 on 300 students in Al- andalus Medical University. A systematic stratified sampling method was used. Data collected by self-administrated questionnaire. - Results: out of the 300 respondents, 166 students were smokers giving a prevalence rate of 55%.The prevalence of smokers were much higher in males than females (79.5% and 20.5%, respectively). 72.2% of students started smoking at the age of less than 20 years. There were a significance differences between faculties (P= 0.02) , which faculty of medicine reported high percentage. - Conclusions: This study directs the attention to the fact that problem of smoking among university students has important contributing personal and socio demographic factors. The study recommends integrating health awareness programmes about smoking hazards in the medical education curriculum.