Perceptions of being a Registered Nurse (PRN): Development and validation of a survey tool

Background: Nursing students need to develop realistic perceptions of nursing to prepare them for employment. Perceptions of nursing survey tools are available but lack contemporary cultural foci. Aim To develop a feasible, valid and reliable survey tool to identify nursing student’s perceptions of being a nurse with the objective of identifying key influences on perceptions. Design/Methods: In Phase 1 a literature review, and Nominal Group Technique meetings was used to generate primary survey items. Phase 2 included a pre-pilot and online pilot testing of the Perceptions of being a Registered Nurse (PRN) survey tool with 797 nursing students, across all year levels at three Australian Universities. Results The 34-item PRN survey tool uses a five-point Likert scale to measure nursing students’ perceptions of nursing including personal impact, attributes, the nursing role and professionalism. The Item-Content validity index was high (> .78) and the inter-item correlation validity was identified by a Pearson’s product moment co-efficient of r  = .712. Internal reliability was confirmed with a Cronbach’s alpha = .83. Based upon the participation completion rate, the survey tool was deemed applicable and feasible. The majority of respondents believed that nurses had altruistic attributes however perceptions of nursing varied significantly when rating the physical, emotional and social impacts of being a nurse. Further, in later stages of training, respondents were more likely to agree that nursing is physically and emotionally demanding, that nurses experience social isolation due to shift work and find it difficult to achieve a work-life-balance. Conclusions The PRN survey tool was found to be valid, reliable and feasible. Future use and outcomes from PRN assessments may inform nursing curricula and will lead to enhanced perceptions of nursing.