Investigation and Analysis of Professional Identity and Research on Influencing Factors of Nursing Students before and after Clinical Practice

Objective: To analyze the related factors affecting the professional identity of nursing students before and after clinical practice, hoping to provide reference for the career development and education of nursing students. Methods: A total of 393 undergraduate nursing students of grade 2020 from the Department of Nursing of a university in Shanxi Province were selected. The professional choice motivation, educational attainment expectation, future career planning, professional practice, and employment prospect expectation of nursing students before clinical practice, and the willingness to upgrade educational attainment, professional experience, career development expectation, and employment planning of nursing students after clinical practice were investigated. Through statistical analysis of the survey data, the related influencing factors affecting the professional identity of nursing students before and after clinical practice were explored. Results: The observation of general data showed that the proportion of female students in the survey sample was higher than that of male students, and the proportion of those whose family residence was in rural areas was slightly higher than that in urban areas. The analysis of students’ own situation showed that nursing students chose the nursing major because of the high expected employment rate, but they were generally anxious about the employment prospect before the internship, showing a contradictory mentality. The analysis of students’ professional ability showed that nursing students believed that their professional ability was mainly reflected in the vocational adaptability. The analysis of the social environment showed that the educational attainment expectations of nursing students were mainly undergraduate and master’s degrees, and they preferred to engage in clinical nursing work rather than nursing research. The analysis on the selection of internship hospitals shows that nursing students’ choice of internship hospitals is mainly influenced by the duration of the internship, and they consider the correlation between the selection of internship hospitals and future employment decisions to be low. The analysis on the surrounding environment such as family and school shows that the professional identity of nursing students is mainly influenced by the opinions of school teachers and parents, but the occupations of most of the family members of nursing students are not related to medicine. Conclusion: Targeted intervention strategies should be formulated based on the relevant influencing factors that affect the professional identity of nursing students before and after clinical internship, to enhance the professional identity and employment confidence of nursing students, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of nursing education and the medical service industry.