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

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.

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.