Attitudinal Dimension Of Nursing Professionalization

2. Attitudinal dimension of nursing professionalization.

Values are beliefs and ideals that individuals and groups possess. Professional values are practical standards that create a framework for evaluation of attitudes and ideas influencing behavior in professional clinicians. Essential to professionalism is the acquisition of professional values and the living out of these values. Although professionalization is a category related to culture, some of its properties are mentioned as to be autonomous, cooperative, retained jurisdiction, membership in professional organizations and professional development, community service and social services, compliance with codes of nursing, conduct and evaluation of nursing theory. Kim et al. stated that the main features of the nursing professionalization values are classified into three main groups:

• Personal-based features such as the ability to understand the feelings and problems of others, willingness to help others, ability to work with others, tolerance and flexibility in communicating with others;

• knowledge-based features such as knowledge and skills, scientific accuracy, and ability to research; and

• State-dependent properties such as willingness to take responsibility and emphasizing on the attractive external appearance. Core values set forth by AACN (American Association of Critical-Care Nursing) (1998) include human dignity, integrity, autonomy, altruism, and social justice. These values have also been identified by