Prelicensure Nursing Students’ Attitudes Toward Patients With Cancer Revisited

Recruiting graduate nurses into oncology practice postgraduation continues to be challenging. Graduate nurses tend to prefer clinical settings that they consider high-tech or challenging, with oncology ranking low. In addition, new oncology nurses have the highest turnover rate among all cancer clinicians. Higher cancer incidence rates and advances in cancer treatments have increased the demand for oncology nurses. Because of these challenges, this study sought to explore undergraduate nursing students’ attitudes toward oncology nursing, describe factors influencing their preferred practice setting for employment, and examine the correlation between these factors.