Redefining the concept of professionalism in nursing: an integrative review
Article Category: Review
Online veröffentlicht: 30. Dez. 2021
Seitenbereich: 327 - 340
Eingereicht: 10. Feb. 2021
Akzeptiert: 26. März 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fon-2021-0033
Schlüsselwörter
© 2021 Azadeh Azemian et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Objective
In today's world with sweeping changes, nurses are responsible for providing high-quality and cost-benefit care, which would almost be impossible unless they achieve their high professional status. To date, no precise and comprehensive definition of professionalism in nursing has been evidently proposed. In fact, many of the previously proposed definitions are either complicated or ambiguous. Moreover, there is no consensus in the literature on an exhaustive definition for “a professional nurse.” The present study aimed to illustrate the concept of professionalism in nursing and identify its defining characteristics.
Methods
In this study, concept analysis was conducted using Whittemore et al.'s method for the integrated review. A comprehensive search of electronic, scientific databases including Eric, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO, PsychoINFO, Embass, MagIran, IranDoc, SID, and IRANMEDEX was carried out using the keywords such as professionalism, professional behavior, nursing professionalism (NP), professional attribute, and nursing.
Results
In the present study, a comprehensive search of 11 electronic databases retrieved 5738 articles. Then, 2837 duplicate articles were removed by endnote (version 8). Based on a preliminary examination of the titles and abstracts as well as the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 1517 articles were excluded. In addition, 137 articles were removed for scientific reasons. Finally, 52 articles in English and Persian were selected. Content analysis of the articles revealed four major themes, namely,
Conclusions
Professionalism in nursing is a major, multidimensional concept according to the literature that included individual prerequisites, professional prerequisites, appropriate structures, and socio-individual factors. In fact, professionalism in nursing comprises a wide range of personal characteristics, self-regulation, professional values, striving to acquire and enhance professional expertise, professional interactions, social, professional, and legal responsibility, and creation of a sense of belonging, and professional development.