1. NURSING AS A PROFESSION
Final year m.sc nursing
GCON, Jalgaon
2. Nursing as a profession
• Professional is a term commonly used to
identify many type of people ranging from
wrestlers & rock stars to call as profession.
3. • Flexner 1915 believed that professional work;
– Is basically intellectual ( as opposed to physical )
– Is based on a body of knowledge that can be learned
– Is practical rather than theoretical
– Can be taught through a process of professional education
– Has a strong internal organisation of members
– Has practitioners who are motivated by altruism ( the
desire to help others).
4. Concepts of a profession
• A profession is an occupation with ethical components that is
devoted to the promotion of human and social welfare.
• Occupation are principal areas of work classified according to
various features such as preparation, skills and knowledge required;
the nature of the work itself, supervision, motivation, etc.
5. Characteristics
• Generally considered to be expertise, autonomy, commitment, and responsibility.
• Mandate an advanced body of knowledge & skill & an organised value system,
• developed and trasmitted through extensive academic preparation and professional
socialisation,
• along with the occupation structures to assure the required level of education & practice.
• Some occupation, organised around a professional core, also include an array of personnel,
such as assistants, technicians who are not professionals by the accepted standards of
preparation and responsibility.
6. • So “ A profession is an occupation based on
specialised intellectual study and training,
the purpose of which is to supply skilled
service with ethical components to others,
for a definite fee or salary”.
7. Difference between occupation & profession
Occupation Profession
1. Training may occur in the job. Education takes place in a college or
university
2. Length of training varies Education is prolonged
3. Values, beliefs and ethics are not
prominent factors of preparation
Values, beliefs and ethics are an integral
part of preparation.
4. Commitment & personal
identification vary
Commitment & personal identification
strong
5. Workers supervised Workers are autonomous
6. People often changes job People unlikely to change profession
7. Accountability rests with employer Accountability rests with an individual
8. Characteristics of professionalization
• Houle 1980 identified characteristics of
professionalization, including:
– A concept of mission open to change
– Mastery of theoretical knowledge
– Capacity to solve problems
– Use of theoretical knowledge
– Continued seeking of self-enhancement by its members
9. – Formal training
– Credentialing system to certify competence
– Creation of a subculture
– Legal reinforcement of professional standards
– Ethical practice
– Penalties against incompetent or unethical practice
– Public acceptance
– Role distinctions that differentiate professional work from of other
vocations & permit autonomous practice
– Service to society
10. Professional nursing
• Growth of professionalism
• Professional socialization of nursing
– A strong commitment to the service
– The dignity and worth of each person
– Commitment to education
– Autonomy
• Professional nursing values
– Values covering the professional nurse
– Values covering the nurse-patient relationaship
– Values covering the relationships of the nurse to
colleagues and to the community as follows;
11. Cont….
• Qualification of professional nurse
• Abilities of professional nurse
• Characteristics of professional nursing practice
• Professional behaviours of nurses
• Code of ethics of a profession
• Criteria of good codes
12. scope
• Nurses & people
• Nurses & practce
• Nurses & society
• Nurses & co-workers
• Nurses & the profession
13. Functions of professional nursing
• Independent function
– Supervision of a patient
– Observation of symptoms & reactions, including
symptomatology of physical & mental conditions and needs,
– The accurate recording and reporting of facts
– Supervision of others, except physicians, contributing to the
care of the pts.
– Application & the execution of nursing procedure and
techniques.
– Direction & education to secure physical & mental care.
• Dependent function
– Application & execution of legal orders of physicians concerning
treatments & medications with an understanding of cause and
thereof.
