Background There is a widespread nursing shortage within the UK, with trends suggesting that vacancies will continue to rise. The challenge is particularly acute in primary care, where unclear recruitment and career pathways mean that only a small proportion of nurses enter general practice within five years of qualifying.

Aim To explore pre-registrant nursing students’ perceptions of entering general practice as a first-post employment destination.

Method A qualitative interpretive description study was undertaken, recruiting final year pre-registrant nursing students. Semi-structured interviews were analysed through a thematic analysis framework.

Findings Three key themes were identified: myths and perceptions of the general practice nurse (GPN) role, the requirement for secondary care experience and a perceived lack of career advice on entering general practice.

Conclusion Visibility and awareness of the GPN role have still not been realised and further work in this area is required.