Essay On Professional Identity In Nursing

Introduction
Worldwide today there are about 14 million nurses of which in 2015 136854 were found to be in South Africa, who serve as the core of the health care system (Morteza, et al., 2012) (Anon., 2015). Over the years nursing has evolved, with the professional identity of nurses changing from merely being seen as doctor’s assistants to being important members of the health care team. Professional identity is described as a career or occupational identity which is a component of an individual’s overall identity (Johnson, et al., 2012). It is said to be “ a sense of self that is derived and perceived from the role we take on in work that we do” which is amplified by one’s societal standing, how you interact with others and interpretations of one’s experiences (Johnson, et

With the continued change and increased complexity of the identity of the nurse it has led to the confusion as to what role nurses play – are they caregivers or clinicians? With the continued evolution of nurses professional identity nurses have moved away from the feminine role of just merely caring and have moved towards taking on more masculine role which have traditionally been associated with power. As traditionally power is mainly associated with masculinity and caring, which is the core value of nursing, as associated with femininity. From this it can be said that nurses have evolved from being the overshadowed caregivers to now taking on roles that traditionally would not be associated with nursing however still keeping the care element. In order to establish exactly how the identity of nurses has evolved over the years and to understand what it is today, we will look at the history of nursing as well as looking at how professional identity is formed and what factors