Exploring Professional Identity in Nursing: A Comprehensive Report

This report delves into the professional identity of nurses, examining the core values, ethical standards, and multifaceted roles within the profession. Drawing from the open letter "Just a nurse" by midwife Caitlin Brassington, the report clarifies the essential aspects of a nurse's role, including patient care, ethical conduct, and the importance of continuous learning. It explores the standards of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, emphasizing the significance of appearance, work ethic, and interactions. The report also reflects on personal experiences, highlighting the challenges and rewards of a nursing career, and underscores the importance of compassion, dedication, and effective communication in providing quality patient care. The analysis of Brassington's experiences serves to illustrate the demanding yet fulfilling nature of nursing and the importance of advocating for patients and supporting their families. The report concludes with a call for nurses to uphold professional standards and cultivate a strong sense of identity to excel in their roles.

Nursing

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A...........................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Professional identity and professional nursing.......................................................................1
Discerning professional aspects of a nurse's role...................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................2
PART B............................................................................................................................................3
Personal reflection on professional identity in nursing..........................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

PART A
INTRODUCTION
"The character of the nurse is an important as the knowledge she possesses." Historically,
the professions of nursing reveal its ability to adapt the changes and healthcare needs. The
meaning of the term "nurse” states that "a person who cares for the infirm"(Schuler, 2016). This
study demonstrates an understanding of professional identity and aspects of nursing which
supports the identity of nurses. In addition to this, the nonrecreational aspects of a nurse's role
are clarified in this report. Present report is based on an open letter "Just a nurse" of a midwife,
Caitlin Brassington which she posted on Facebook. The professionalism in nursing involve
principles such as caring of people will be first concern, working with other professionals to
protect the health and many more which are required to be meet by the nurses and midwives
(Slatyer & et. al. 2016).
Professional identity and professional nursing.
Professional identity involves the learning of core values and perspectives of the art of
nursing that helps a nurse in gaining, experiencing, reflecting and growing in the profession. The
professional individuality in the health profession is based on several principles which are
essential follows by all the nurses and nursing students. According to standards of Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Australia, (2017), the professional’s values include the codes of ethics,
codes of professional conduct, non-recreational boundaries and standards for practice. The code
of ethics includes that nurses should value quality nursing care; respect and kindness; diversity of
people; access to quality nursing; informed decision-making; culture of safety; ethical
management of information; social, economic and ecological sustainable development.
Similarly, there are eight standards for practice which nurses should include in their nursing
(Tan, Van der Molen & Schmidt, 2017). Further, professionalism includes the following
examples- appearance, work ethics and interactions, following policies, responsibility and co-
operative.
Discerning professional aspects of a nurse's role.
The professional aspect of nurse’s role involves so many holdings such as non-biased
care of patients', integrity, respect, attitude, appearance, honesty and etcetera (Hong & Vargas,
2016). There is some code of professional conduct for health care provider in Australia. This
code states that nurses should practice in accordance with the standards of the profession and
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there are eight different standards of nursing which health professional should follow in their
nursing practices. Also, it is essential for nurses to maintain the dignity, respect, culture,
ethnicity, values and beliefs of people. According to the regulations, healthcare professionals are
required to have entire knowledge of their respective field so that they can treat the patients'
effectively. Besides this, a huge amount of patience is needed in their field, caregiver are not
supposed to express anger, irritation, exhaustion, etc. (Palumbo, Rambur & Hart, 2016). The
non-recreational identity of nurses reveals that they should think critically and analyse nursing
practice. They should have the ability to conduct comprehensive assessments with an effective
plan for nursing practice (Cruess, Cruess & Steinert, 2016). It is foremost duty of a nurse to
provide safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing. However, the most significant function
of a nurse is to render "care" to the affected person to aid him/her to get out of the ill-health
situation.
As per the letter, all the activities that Caitlin Brassington is performing are enough to
clarify the professional aspects of a nurse's role. The understanding possessed by her on the
anatomical, physiological and psychological difference in different age group, the dosages of
different medicines, life-saving operations and so on, reflects her nursing knowledge that is
essential according to the norms of nursing standards. Besides this, the other statement of Caitlin
includes that she had faced screaming, vomiting and urinating of patients. This supports the
above argument that profession of nursing requires so much patience. However, the most
impelling tool that can heal the patients' ill-health includes health coaching. This tactic is useful
of fast recovery of disease (Rose, Nies & Reid, 2017). Caitlin's lines- "I am my patients'
advocate in a health system". and "I can educate patients, carers, inferior nurses and junior
doctors". well explains her role in health coaching. Besides this, it is necessary to provide
comfort, compassion, emotional and social support to patients and their families. By rendering
these elements, a strong bond will form which will help nurses in getting all the needed
information from patients. In addition to this, the dedication of nurses towards their job keeps
them moving irrespective of any hurdle that comes along (Stewart, Crozier & Wheeler, 2016). In
the present case, the statement made by a nurse-"I have saved and will continue to save people's
lives", reflects the professionalism in their behaviour.
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CONCLUSION
Nurses lives very demanding lives like working with doctors, healing patients and
educating the communities are just a few of the responsibilities performed by a nurse. The above
report is based on a letter of a nurse which she wrote when her friend told that -"she is just a
nurse". In this study, an understanding of professional identity and aspects of nursing are gained.
The present report encompasses different roles that a nurse should play in her nursing practice
and further, clarification on professionalism is also made to support the argument. It has been
observed that nurses are required to follow all the practices, code of ethics, nursing practice
standard, etc. to achieve expertness in their role. Hence, to build a professional identity, nurses
are suggested to follow these nursing standards. In addition to this, the roles that are required to
be played by a nurse are mentioned in this report and to provide them support the roles of Caitlin
are explained.
PART B
Personal reflection on professional identity in nursing.
Nurses are the "hospitality" of the hospitals with their best essence as 'caring (Seru,
2016). The letter of Caitlin Brassington made me realise that the statement- "nursing is a noble
work" is true and requires more respect of people rather than a phrase 'you're just a nurse?" The
thing that surprised me most from Caitlin's blog is the time when she stopped at the shop for
milk and saw an old friend who responded to her uniform by saying that she didn't realise that
Caitlin was 'just a nurse". In addition to this, the nurse has heard this phrase many times in her
18-year career. After going through all the problems from her blog that were faced by her and
still her dedication towards her role which is reflecting from the statement that "I will continue to
save lives" really amazed me about her depiction of the role a RN. There are many appreciable
traits possessed by her which I would really like to implement in myself to develop my own
professional identity as a nurse. First of all, I have observed that she is having great
understanding of the medical which is really necessary to perform nursing activities safely and
appropriately.
There are many roles which leads me to conclude the above point such as her ability to
examine all the lung field on a new-born to assess the field having decreased air entry, her
knowledge of dosages of every medicine based on the weight of child and ability of her to
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manage the cardiac arrest in a new-born, child or an adult. Besides this, the moral support
provided by her to the grieving parents after loss of a child and her way of comforting, caring,
rendering emotional and social support to the patients and their families is really recommendable
which I absolutely want to develop in myself. From the letter, I have observed that the roles
played by her are ideal and every nurse should generate them in themselves. Further, the way she
wants to continue her job and save lives of people after facing screams, vomits and urines of
patients with a phrase that "she is just a nurse" is admirable and reflects her strong and firm
determination towards her role. Although, there is a challenge for me in enacting the ideal vision
for being a nurse and that is my attachment to my family which will definitely get impacted by
the nursing practices. As mentioned in the letter, Caitlin was missing Christmas, her children's
birthdays and school musicals which is somehow difficult for me to do. This is the biggest
challenge for me to balance between my family and my profession. Besides this, I possess
dedication and determination towards the role of a nurse which will help me in getting all the
things done as the way Caitlin performed. Besides professionalism in nursing there are many
things that strikes me about the blog. The most significant among them is the understanding of
people's perspectives on a noble profession 'nursing'. In addition to this, the blog also draws my
attraction towards the best use of social media. It states that, if used properly social networking
sites are the most effective and biggest platform to share our views'(Keyko & et.al., 2016). One
can use social media positively and discuss their perceptions about different things which can
help in implementing changes.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cruess, R. L., Cruess, S. R., & Steinert, Y. (2016). Amending Miller’s pyramid to include
professional identity formation. Academic Medicine.91(2). 180-185.
Hong, J., & Vargas, P. (2016). Science teachers’ perception and implementation of inquiry-based
reform initiatives in relation to their beliefs and professional identity. International
Journal of Research Studies in Education. 5(1). 3-17.
Keyko, K., & et. al. (2016). Work engagement in professional nursing practice: a systematic
review. International journal of nursing studies.61. 142-164.
management. 24(2). 139-150.
Palumbo, M. V., Rambur, B., & Hart, V. (2016). Is health care payment reform impacting nurses'
work settings, roles, and education preparation?. Journal of Professional Nursing.
Rose, T., Nies, M. A., & Reid, J. (2017). The internalization of professional nursing values in
baccalaureate nursing students. Journal of Professional Nursing.
Schuler, M. S. (2016). Shadowing in Early Baccalaureate Nursing Education and Its Influence on
Professional Role Perspectives. Nurse educator.41(6). 304-308.
Seru, L. E. (2016). Social Masks and Dramaturgy in Diabetes Health Campaigns in Low
Resourced and" closed" communities. International Research Journal of Social
Sciences. 6(1).
Slatyer, S. & et. al. (2016). Professional practice models for nursing: a review of the literature
and synthesis of key components. Journal of nursing
Stewart, V., Crozier, M., & Wheeler, A. (2016). Interprofessional learning issues in postgraduate
mental health education. Journal of Social Inclusion.7(1). 98-106.
Tan, C. P., Van der Molen, H. T., & Schmidt, H. G. (2017). A measure of professional identity
development for professional education. Studies in Higher Education. 42(8). 1504-1519.
Online
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2017. [PDF]. Available through:
<http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-
standards.aspx>. [Accessed on 4th September 2017].
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