Professional Identity As A Nurse Identity

It is important to integrate the concept professionalism into your nursing career because it allows you to flourish personally as a nurse but more importantly allows the patient to receive the care they deserve. Throughout the course of one’s nursing career there will be many slips and falls. Mistakes will happen but we as nurses are able to reflect and learn from them in a

Nursing is a practice in which nurses promote health and the well-being of patients. I believe that nursing is not only a job that prevents and cures illness, but has a deeper meaning and understanding. Becoming a nurse gives the opportunity to maximize and promote patients’ well-being. It is a way to learn and understand new perspectives and expand prior knowledge, to build relationships with patients, community, and other nurses, in addition to learning how to empathize and realize the patient’s needs, and to value and see people as human beings. I think even with the list given is not enough to define or explain a nurse. I believe being a nurse is a diverse and immeasurable experience, and what happens in this field is unknowing and uncertain. My goal in nursing practices is to take in life experiences and use the skills and ideas learned to shape me to become a better nurse and a better person.

This essay focuses on the impact of historical development of nursing on contemporary representations of the nursing profession. It examines the professional identity of nursing and further discusses the contribution of modern nursing, social, cultural and political factors that influences the professional identity of a nurse. The essay also looks into the professional regulations and the role of the nurse’s and midwifery Council (NMC) in the protection of the public. Finally, this essay will discuss nursing education, the media, stereotype, and their impacts on nurses as well as demonstrate my understanding as a student nurse to challenge the professional identity of nurses.

Nurses must display a knowledge of skills by portraying a functional ability to assess, treat, and prevent illness in the clinical setting. “The nurses are obliged to gain specialized knowledge, skills and training through the rigorous study of biological, physical and behavioral sciences and then use this knowledge to diagnose and treat patients suffering from different ailments. The patients treated must be under the supervision of skilled medical practitioners and the nurse must be equally directed by the expert medical practitioner. The prevention and management of illnesses, injury and ailments also forms some of the major tasks that have to be carried out by nurses. Politeness in expression, compassion for patients and proper uniform are also some of the main parts of professionalism in nursing.” (professonalism in nursing http://www.buzzle.com/articles/professionalism-in-nursing.html)

Behaviors associated with nursing professionalism go far beyond how nurses practice in a clinical setting. Alidina describes professionalism as “a multidimensional concept that provides nurses with opportunities to grow personally and professionally (2013, p. 128). This shows that professionalism has many different components. Alidina also uses “Miller’s Wheel of Professionalism.” This model uses a wheel to represent different aspects of professionalism. The different behaviors that are represented are “adherence to code for nurses, community service orientation, Professional Organization Participation, autonomy and self-regulation, Publication and Communication, development and use of theory and research, and continuing education and competence (2013, p. 129-130).

Broadly, identity is said to be a “self-concept,” or the progressive, cognitive portrayal that one usually holds of his or her self (Markus & Wurf, 1987). The research of identity and how identity is formed has been contemplated in lieu of multiple angles of a human experiences (Baxter, 2011). Professional Identity is a personal professional self- concept based on factors such as beliefs, attributes, values, motives, and experience (Ibarra, 1999; Schein, 1978). In any career it is important for an individual to have his or her own professional identity to be able to bring something to their profession. As a social worker professional identity is very important to be aware of, because when the worker is aware of his or her identity it can effect them as workers and how they improve, support, and work with their patients.

Professional identity is established through an individual’s personal and professional life. It encompasses personal values, attitudes, morals and beliefs, while taking into account the professional ethics and legal regulations that surrounds their chosen profession. It can therefore be further elaborated by defining an individual’s specific chosen profession. Within the health care sector a professionals role is to promote, restore and maintain health whilst ensuring the greatest quality of care is given to all individuals when they seek it (World Health Organisation, 2014). Therefore it is understood that professional identity within the health care community embodies personal and professional attributes as well as collaborative relationships

Professional identity is encapsulated in the idea of a duty of care. In health and

Behavioral attributes that I practice that identify me as a professional in nursing are accountability, altruism, and compassion. I practice accountability by accepting the responsibility for the diverse roles, obligations, and actions of a nurse through self-regulation and other behaviors that positively influence patient outcomes. I practice altruism by placing the needs and interest of the patients before my interests and providing the patients services that go beyond expected standards of practice. I use compassion in my practice to identify with my patients experience to understand their perspective.

This paper will explore the concepts of professional identity and stewardship as related by classmate Jennifer Bernhardt (J.B.) through the process of an interview and the analysis of her responses to four structured questions. The Interview The interview questions were designed to gain a better understanding of JB’s role in healthcare, her definition of professionalism and its impact on her work, her views on leadership in the healthcare setting as well as, how she defines professional advocacy and authenticity and the impact it plays in the healthcare setting. What is your role as a health care team Member?

The purpose of my memorandum is to demonstrate how a nursing career will affect my personal identity. This memo will also entail the job requirements, expected pay range, long term prospects, workplace environment, and the social/cultural issues of a nursing career.

In spite of professionalization of nursing through education and innovation nursing profession is still greatly under recognized and stereotyped by public. Public picture of nurses does not match their professional image. Even today public is not aware that nursing is an independent theory-based and scholarly profession. This misunderstanding of nursing profession forced nurses to change their appearance. They abandoned nursing cap and switched to scrubs and RN identifier patch, which was called "the solution to nursing's identity crisis¨. (Stokowski, 2011)

To have a professional identity as a nurse you must have courage. Giddens states that “in the context of professional identity courage has two meanings: (1) to affect change and (2) to stand in opposition for moral rightness (pg. 383). This means that nurses need to be able to be confident when they stand up for their patient. They also need to have courage to speak up when another member of the health care team does something that is not professional or goes with the agency’s policies. Having courage as a nurse means that you can relay details of a conversation you had with a patient to the provider when the patient does not agree with the care being offered. According to Giddens, a nurse with can also have physical courage or moral courage

Nursing staff are at the forefront of all patient care their individual person to person interactions with their patients gives a first impression of who they are and what they do. (Mee, 2006) Nurses need to make that first impression count. Therefore, nursing staff should identify themselves in a confident professional manner because this will be the first image the patient will see. In all their interaction they need to portray a positive image of the nursing profession; this includes within the walls of the healthcare facility and outside the facility; what they say and how they describe what they do affects the perception of who they are. Moreover, you want to describe your skills and what nurses actually do then how you feel about it.

The professional image of nursing does not have a very glamorous history. The subservient, handmaiden to the physician stereotype that has historically been accepted is still widely accepted by the general population today. Efforts have been made to show nursing practice as an independent profession of its own, but much work still needs to be done (Catalano, 2015, p. 9). This paper will serve to show how nursing is portrayed by the media, and accepted by the public; it will also highlight ways in which nursing can improve and even correct these images, through higher and continuing education, what each nurse can do individually in their own practice, and through involvement in both professional organization and in politics.