The occupational status of the graduates of Semnan Nursing School

One of the main missions of higher education is to train the professional manpower the society needs. Higher education institutes should know the fate of their students after graduation and that how they use their expertise.

To determine the occupational status of the graduates of Semnan Nursing School.

The graduates of thefirst 11 years since thefoundation of the school were included in this study. The datagathering tool was a questionnaire consisting of 7 demographic questions and 10 questions about the place of occupation, nature of the job, continuing education and scientific activities. The questionnaires were mailed to the study group addresses and the data were analyzed after receiving the answers.

Of the respondents, 60.22% were female. Most of them were working in hospitals and 43.01% were practicing in fields other than nursing. Only 24.72% of the respondents were unemployed for one ye9r after graduation. Most of the graduates did not continue their education, 2.61% have continued their study infields other than nursery and 6.45% have changed their field of profession. The majority showed no interest in research and writing or translating books. Also, 77.42% have not tried to publish an article in any journal and 80.64% have not participated in any scientific conference. Of the respondents, 80.64% had no contact with their prior university and only 17.2% were employed in university-affiliated hospitals.

Long-term unemployment after graduation, unstable occupational status, practicing infields other than nursing, showing no interest in continuing education or participating in research projects, having no contact with scientific centers and not participating in national or regional health programs indicate that the enrol/ment of students in nursing schools is not consistent with their personal interests and capabilities. It is recommended to interview the students in order to determine their occupational interest before entering the universities. To reduce the nurses' unemployment rate, they could be employed in positions that are compatible with theirfieldofeducation,as rural nurses, school nurses orfactory nurses.