Introduction: A rural nursing program has a vital role in improving the recruitment and retention of nurses in rural and remote settings. A small pilot study was conducted to explore the views and experiences of the first cohort of undergraduate nursing students who completed a rurally based bachelor of nursing program which commenced in 2002 in Renmark, South Australia. The participants were eight current undergraduate nursing students who were part of the first cohort of nursing students nearing completion of the program. The pilot study set out to explore support provided to rural nursing students studying in a rural setting; to investigate whether rural nursing students feel adequately prepared for rural clinical practice near completion of the nursing program; to identify the challenges and highlights of studying rurally; and to explore the probability of retention and recruitment of future nursing graduates in a rural setting.

Methods: The method used was a descriptive, exploratory, web-based survey. Quantitative data were limited to descriptive statistics of demographic characteristics, career goals, graduate nurse program and future employment intentions, level of support, preparation for practice, challenges and highlights of rural study and clinical placements. Qualitative responses to open-ended questions were content analysed to identify common themes.