A follow-up of the graduates of the 3-year post-registration Bachelor of Nursing degree course in the University of Wales.
This paper considers several aspects of the graduates of the 3-year Bachelor of Nursing course at the University of Wales College of Medicine. These include career progression, perceptions of the usefulness of aspects of the course, and the reactions of others to the fact that they have a degree. Information was elicited by a postal questionnaire which is administered annually to all graduates. The findings of the study are clearly limited due to a small sample size. They do, however, indicate that the graduates of the course so far have stayed in nursing posts, largely in teaching and administration, and the loss to the profession has been extremely small. Overall, the graduates found many aspects of the course very useful to posts held, and experienced various reactions of other professionals to the fact that they had a degree. Due to the relatively short time that this course has been in existence and the fact that the first groups were very small in number, the findings of the study merely suggest trends in the career patterns and perceptions of graduates which need to be continually monitored before statements can be made with confidence. They do, however, have implications when considering the function and contribution of these nurse graduates to the nursing profession.