The interest of 15-year-old students in pursuing careers as nurses has decreased in at least half of OECD countries between 2018 and 2022, according to data from the PISA survey. This reduction was particularly marked in the United States, Norway, Canada, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. In many countries, the public image of nurses during the pandemic was mixed: on the one hand, frontline health workers were portrayed as “heroes” in recognition of the hard work and risks, but on the other hand the heavy workload and difficult working conditions resulted in high job dissatisfaction and intention to quit the profession.
