Reworking Professional Nursing Identity

Abstract

In spite of professional socialization through nursing education programs, new graduates experience stress as they become working professionals. This grounded theory study explores experienced nurses' perceptions of how they became professional. The central problem for nurses was dissonance between expectations and experiences; they addressed this through an iterative, three-stage process of reworking professional identity. The stages of this process are assuming adequacy, realizing practice, and developing a reputation. Iterations of this process occur as new discrepancies are noticed, enhanced awareness dawns, practice changes, learning is undertaken, or experienced nurses become relative novices in another work area. Nurses move through stages more quickly and at different levels with each iteration. Three contextual factors influence the process: expectation; perception of the status accorded by others to nursing; and supportiveness by acceptance, assistance, and advocacy from others in the workplace. These findings expand knowledge about professional socialization and how nurses themselves understand developing professional identity.

The Power of Protocol: Professional Identity Development and Governmentality in Post-socialist Health Care

“…I have grounded my argument in the theory that professional identity is based on self-assessment in the work environment [MacIntosh 2003;Öhlén and Segesten 1998] and is shaped by the rules of conduct in place for that environment, or governmentality. I have demonstrated that protocols are tools instituted by the governing body and internalised by nurses to assess their quality of work.…”

“…A nurse's self-evaluation of competence within the work environment is a key component in professional identity and consequently self-worth [James 1890;MacIntosh 2003;Öhlén and Segesten 1998]. This article demonstrates that practices associated with self-evaluation and professional identity may come into confl ict when a nurse's 'rules for conduct of the self' do not match the professional environment.…”

“…4 Although nurses hold a subordinate position in the biomedical hierarchy, most nurses strongly identify with their work, making it part of their personal identity in ways that workers in more mundane jobs often resist [Melosh 1982: 17;Öhlén and Segesten 1998: 721;Rose 2004]. Like other types of identity, professional identity is a dynamic, shared, relational, and internalised concept of self that develops out of a process of balancing personal experiences with others' expectations [Beijaard, Meijer and Verloop 2004;MacIntosh 2003;Öhlén and Segesten 1998;Roberts 2000]. Professional identity is rooted in one's personal history and built on through professional and personal experiences.…”

The work-integrated learning combined with the portfolio method-A pedagogical strategy and tool in nursing education for developing professional competence

“…[45] In addition to practical and theoretical skills, it is necessary that the student and the professional nurse are socialized into a professional culture in order to cope with the profession and develop professional competence. [46] The purpose of the clinical placement is to enable nursing students to add professional competence to their knowledge base by integrating theory with practice and vice-versa. There are many challenges for nursing students in the different learning situations experienced during their clinical placement.…”

L’équilibre entre deux rôles dans la recherche sur la fin de vie

“…Certains participants peuvent ressentir une certaine redevance ou dépendance envers l'infirmière et ainsi accepter de participer à l'étude sans réellement le vouloir (Head et Ritchie, 2004 (MacIntosh, 2003).…”