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Nursing Does Not Qualify as a Profession

explanatory Essay
424 words
424 words
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Determining if Nursing Qualifies as a Profession

Abstract

Nursing will be compared to common characteristics of a profession to determine if nursing qualifies as a profession.

Does Nursing Qualify as a Profession?

“There are six characteristics commonly used to asses whether a job is considered a profession: education of the practitioner, having a code of ethics, receiving compensation commensurate with the work, being organized to promote a needed service, having autonomy in practice, and being recognized by the government with licensure”(Pinkerton, 2001,p.130).

“Florence Nightingale first began professional education for nurses in 1860"(Wikipedia, 2015). Currently there are several levels of education for nurses, ranging from diploma to doctoral degrees.

Nurses are legally accountable to practice within the nurse practice acts set forth by legislature. These laws are derived from an official code of ethics that was first published by The American Nurses Association in 1971.

Compensation commensurate with work falls short when compared with autoworkers, who receive comparable, if not higher wages and better benefits than nurses do.

Nursing has several organizations. “The National League for Nursing (NLN) is primarily responsible for regulating the quality of the educational programs that prepare nurses for the practice of nursing”(Catalano, 2000,p.10). Also, the American Nurses Association (ANA) which “is more concerned with the quality of nursing pra...

In this essay, the author

  • Explains that nursing will be compared to common characteristics of a profession to determine if nursing qualifies as the profession.
  • Explains that florence nightingale began professional education for nurses in 1860. nurses are legally accountable to practice within the nurse practice acts set forth by legislature.
  • Explains that nurses have several organizations, including the national league for nursing (nln) and the american nurses association (ana).
  • Explains that nursing is both an independent and interdependent discipline. nurses must work closely with physicians, hospital administrators, pharmacists, and other groups in the provision of care.
  • Opines that nurses must pass a national licensure examination to obtain license to practice in all fifty states. standards need to be established for minimal educational level, which would be accepted in the world of professionals.
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