NHS Tayside’s director of nursing, Professor Liz Wilson, presented research carried out by Dundee University when she spoke at today’s meeting of NHS Tayside’s staff governance committee at King’s Cross Hospital, Dundee.

The researchers interviewed fifth and sixth-year pupils with a record of high academic achievement.

They found pupils who considered nursing as a career decided against it, concluding it would not be using their good examination grades to maximum benefit.

The research revealed a number of stereotypical images that influenced career decisions. The research found high academic achievers’ main source of images regarding nursing appears to be through TV.

One pupil was quoted as saying, “In Casualty some nurses are portrayed as brainless, sex mad bimbos out to try to romance doctors and get a doctor for a husband.”

Another pupil said, “The sexual stereotype is always there and seems to be reinforced when you view TV programmes and if you see nurses on adverts or in films they are always female with short skirts and enormous chests — really not what any intellectual female would want to be seen as.”

Against that backdrop Professor Wilson said there were a number of local initiatives designed to discourage these stereotypes and catch pupils at an early stage in a bid to encourage them to choose nursing.

Earlier this year Dundee primary schools participated in an arts project related to healthcare and that will be rolled out across Tayside next year.

Work is also going on to offer work placements to 15 year olds in a number of healthcare settings.

She said young people had also been “gowned up” and given the opportunity to work on the lifelike models used to train medical students.

“We are involving significant numbers of pupils in Tayside and giving exposure to a whole range of careers in the NHS,” said Professor Wilson.

NHS Tayside chairman Sandy Watson said he was looking to bring together the three directors of education in Tayside with senior officers from NHS Tayside to talk about issues surrounding career opportunities in the NHS.

Director of workforce Alex Killick said, “This is about engaging with young people before they make career choices so they know what it is like to become a nurse or doctor before they make their choice.”