The Image of Nursing
The Image of Nursing
Dawn Davis
Texas A&M University-Texarkana
The Image of Nursing
Following is a discussion of the image of nursing and professional identity. Factors contributing to nursing image and the effects of nursing image are included.
The Image of Nursing
What is the professional identity, or the image of nursing? How does the public view this hardworking profession? Do they understand what a nurse does? Do they understand the thought processes involved in caring for patients. Do they understand the knowledge involved in critical thinking? Do they have any idea that we formulate plans of care and that we put together nursing diagnosis with treatment plans, nursing interventions, expected outcomes? Do they understand that we are their advocates? Do they understand that all care is channeled through nursing and that we are their main defense for patient safety? Are we professionals in the eyes of the public, and in our own eyes? For my own research on this paper, I randomly quizzed ten people that I met in public, not people that knew me personally. I asked them what they thought of nurses, and asked them to give me some adjectives to describe nurses in general. Some of the positive responses that I received were; kind, caring, cool, they help the doctors, they take care of patients, outstanding, knew what they were doing, they saved my life, and excellent. I also received some negatives. One person told me that they knew one nurse that was totally uncaring, unprofessional, and mean. Another individual told me that many years ago her son, who passed away, was HIV positive and she felt that the nurses neglected him because of his diagnosis. I was appalled at the negative answers, and somewhat disappointed with the positives. While the positives that I received were all fantastic traits, not one person mentioned traits such as educated or professional. My very limited random research was completely in line with the
Dawn Davis
Texas A&M University-Texarkana
The Image of Nursing
Following is a discussion of the image of nursing and professional identity. Factors contributing to nursing image and the effects of nursing image are included.
The Image of Nursing
What is the professional identity, or the image of nursing? How does the public view this hardworking profession? Do they understand what a nurse does? Do they understand the thought processes involved in caring for patients. Do they understand the knowledge involved in critical thinking? Do they have any idea that we formulate plans of care and that we put together nursing diagnosis with treatment plans, nursing interventions, expected outcomes? Do they understand that we are their advocates? Do they understand that all care is channeled through nursing and that we are their main defense for patient safety? Are we professionals in the eyes of the public, and in our own eyes? For my own research on this paper, I randomly quizzed ten people that I met in public, not people that knew me personally. I asked them what they thought of nurses, and asked them to give me some adjectives to describe nurses in general. Some of the positive responses that I received were; kind, caring, cool, they help the doctors, they take care of patients, outstanding, knew what they were doing, they saved my life, and excellent. I also received some negatives. One person told me that they knew one nurse that was totally uncaring, unprofessional, and mean. Another individual told me that many years ago her son, who passed away, was HIV positive and she felt that the nurses neglected him because of his diagnosis. I was appalled at the negative answers, and somewhat disappointed with the positives. While the positives that I received were all fantastic traits, not one person mentioned traits such as educated or professional. My very limited random research was completely in line with the
Bibliography: Fletcher, K. (2007). Image: changing how women nurses think about themselves. The Author, 207-215. Horton, K., Tschudin, V., & Forget, A. (2007). The Value of Nursing: A Literature Review. Sage Publication. Huston, C. J. (2010). Professional Issues in Nursing (second ed.). (H. Surrena, Ed.) Philadelphia, PA, USA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Rezaei-Adaryani, M., Salsali, M., & Mohammadi, E. (2012, December). Nursing Image: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis. Contemporary Nurse, 81-89.