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Professional identity in nursing: UK students' explanations for poor standards of care

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  • Traynor, Michael
  • Buus, Niels

Abstract

Research concludes that professional socialisation in nursing is deeply problematic because new recruits start out identifying with the profession's ideals but lose this idealism as they enter and continue to work in the profession. This study set out to examine the topic focussing on the development of professional identity. Six focus groups were held with a total of 49 2nd and 3rd year BSc nursing students studying at a university in London, UK and their transcripts were subject to discourse analysis. Participants' talk was strongly dualistic and inflected with anxiety. Participants identified with caring as an innate characteristic. They described some qualified nurses as either not possessing this characteristic or as having lost it. They explained strategies for not becoming corrupted in professional practice. Their talk enacted distancing from ‘bad’ qualified nurses and solidarity with other students. Their talk also featured cynicism. Neophyte nurses' talk of idealism and cynicism can be understood as identity work in the context of anxiety inherent in the work of nurses and in a relatively powerless position in the professional healthcare hierarchy.

Suggested Citation

  • Traynor, Michael & Buus, Niels, 2016. "Professional identity in nursing: UK students' explanations for poor standards of care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 186-194.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:166:y:2016:i:c:p:186-194
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.024
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Traynor, Michael & Nissen, Nina & Lincoln, Carol & Buus, Niels, 2015. "Occupational closure in nursing work reconsidered: UK health care support workers and assistant practitioners: A focus group study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 81-88.
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    Cited by:

    1. Schubert, Samantha & Buus, Niels & Monrouxe, Lynn & Hunt, Caroline, 2023. "Interrogation in clinical supervision sessions: Exploring the construction of clinical psychology trainees’ professional identities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    2. Jisun Min & Hyunlye Kim & Jaeyong Yoo, 2021. "Effects of Self-Esteem, Problem-Solving Ability, and Professional Nursing Values on the Career Identity of Nursing College Students in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-11, August.
    3. Kiri Hunter & Catherine Cook, 2018. "Role‐modelling and the hidden curriculum: New graduate nurses’ professional socialisation," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(15-16), pages 3157-3170, August.
    4. Ortiga, Yasmin Y. & Diño, Michael Joseph & Macabasag, Romeo Luis A., 2022. "Clocking out: Nurses refusing to work in a time of pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).

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