What are the different approach in defining a profession specifically in nursing profession?

There is a long debate over whether nursing is or is not a profession. A thorough review of the literature involving the attributes and behaviors attributed to a profession according to theorist reveals a consensus opinion that there are 14 defining items.

These are knowledge based on extensive education (usually accepted to be more than 3 years of university study), theoretical base, altruism, code of ethics, autonomy, service, competence, commitment, professional association, prestige, authority, and trustworthiness.

One researcher found 4 problems with nursing being a profession (1) there is a limited body of knowledge that has been tested and identified as underlying nursing practice, (2) the occupation continues to be made of segmented work groups who have varying amounts of education, hold varying sets of values, and express varying concerns, (3) the occupation possesses no common mode of thought in viewing its work and (4) the educational base is not extensive enough to warrant professional status. (Aydelotte)

Miller in 1991 compiled a list of behaviors necessary for nursing to become a profession, a key to that model for professionalism was participation in the professional organization. Nursing鈥檚 professional organization in the United States is the American Nurses Association (there are other organizations for sub-segments, but for nursing to be a profession the ANA must be supported by the members of the occupation. There are 2.9 million nurses eligible to join the ANA and 150,000 members. That is not exactly professional association.

In a study of salary versus hourly wage involving nurses, Sills found that the hourly wage and blue collar productivity model had caused a loss of autonomy and professionalism in nursing.

Insistence by many nurses on not only continuing the hourly wage system, but also in unionizing, has pulled nurses further away from the professional status it seeks.

For years, the ANA and the National League for Nursing have stated that the BSN should be the entry level for the RN profession. They have produced studies showing that the increased educational preparation results in better patient outcomes and lower health care costs. However, the nursing arm of the AFL-CIO has stopped every state which has levied legislation requiring the BSN as the entry level to practice.

Henderson has cited numerous studies showing a direct relationship with higher levels of autonomy (on autonomy rating scales) and higher education, and also studies showing that an increased level of experience has a negative effect on autonomy in nursing.

Sociologists have agreed that nursing does not fit the description and definition of a profession. In sociology literature, nursing is continually referred to as a semi-profession, marginal profession or more recently an emerging profession.

In a study performed in the mid 1990s it was found that in the US the nurses in the active duty military, met the qualifications of a profession. They are paid on a monthly salary, they have a unified minimum standard of entry to practice (all RNs in the active military have a BSN or higher), due to the duties of an officer and often the placement into positions of responsibility early they have a higher level of autonomy, a high number of active military nurses who have been in the military over 10 years have a master degree or higher, many military nurses are members of the ANA, they have prestige based on officers rank as well as education, they are in a service profession, and they are truly committed.

In general nursing at this point in its development is not a profession. There have been tremendous strides in the last few decades, and nurses are rarely shown to be following doctors around saying "yes doctor" on all TV shows so the public perception and the overall prestige has improved.

There needs to be a concerted effort at determining what a nurse needs to know to be a professional nurse.

It may be time to have the 2 year program be for LVN/LPNs and the 4 year program for RNs. After all they now offer an associate degree as a medical assistant. Compensation issues will be much more difficult to address, though studies have found that nurses have greater satisfaction, more flexibility and work within 5% of the same amount on a salaried basis and hospitals found they could pay more by not having to calculate hours, differential etc. Participation in the ANA is an easier fix. People always say they cannot afford the dues for the membership, but if the number of nurses was even doubled, the ANA could manage its membership cost for less money.

Nursing could be a profession, and deserves to be a profession, but it needs to make fundamental changes in the structure of nursing itself to achieve the status.