Para uma identidade dialética e comunicacional em Enfermagem

Abstract

The construction of the identity of a professional group is the subjective dimension of its professionalization process, understood as a process of affi rmation, autonomy construction and social recognition (1)(2) . Because it is founded on relationships, of recognition or non-recognition, identity is a concept that is related to communication, but it is translated into objective dimensions of the professionalization process (objective statute, autonomy and social image). Thus, identity is internal and external, that is, it refers both to a professionalism that comes from the inside (which, being diverse, must be clarifi ed), and to a professionalism that comes from the outside -concerning the social recognition that is usually achieved through the strength of the professionalism that comes from the inside (3) . This conceptual framework has become the necessary basis for a propositional argumentation. If the postmodern lines and the experienced and discursive forms that they enable have defi nitively opened an original space for the affi rmation of Nursing and its professionals, it becomes necessary to take advantage of the framework's potentialities in order to translate it clearly into performance indicators, education curricula and into a strong professional discourse. Although the affi rmation of professional identity, as it is clear in the conceptual exposition presented above, always needs diversity (there is no identity breathing without diversity), it also needs a minimum of clearness and coherence in its principles, and a minimum of harmony among the diverse subsystems on which it depends (4) . Without this, what is gained at one level can always be neutralized by what is lost at another level. The persistent ambiguities and polarizations of the adventures of professionalization and professionalism in nursing indicate that a large part of the recognition criteria in nursing continue to be borrowed from medical power, which reveals the need to develop an attachment to forms of recognition that are centered on the specifi city of knowledge in nursing. Due to this, we propose nursing identities that are openly dialectical, concerning their symbolic content (combining scientifi c-technical and ethical-expressive knowledge), and related to communication, concerning their action schemes (informed by communication-related rationality). This communication perspective is translated into specifi c emphases on each one of the levels of the ecological system that is inhabited by the identities, which can inform professional references, education decisions and investigation foci. I present below only the central trends of such levels.At the individual level, appeals to the creativity of the self and to the refl ection from self to self become pertinent (5)(6) . At the interpersonal or team level, the place of the close other is emphasized (supervisor, tutor, coworkers), as a cognitive challenge and affective support, in the concrete and face-to-face interaction with the other (6)(7) . At the organizational level, ...