Viewpoint of Nurses on Nursing in Respect to Professionalism Criteria

Purpose: This descriptive study was carried out to determine the viewpoint of nurses about their profession in the context of the criteria for professionalism. Materials and Methods: Research was conducted with 180 graduated nurses who were working in three hospitals affiliated to the two universities in Ankara, and the study the whole population. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey which was developed by the researchers. The questionnaire consists of two sections; the first section included 26 questions concerning the descriptive characteristics of nursing, and second section there were 16 questions which aim to determine the point of view of nurses on nursing based on the professionalism criteria. Data collected from the survey was evaluated by using frequency and percentage calculations in SPSS statistical analysis programme. Results: The analysis of the findings revealed that, the major of the participants did not consider to leave their occupation because they care for their profession and more than half of the participants described the nursing services in our country as inadequate. It was identified that the proportion of nurses who choosed nursing in order to help individuals in need was quite low, , more than half had attended professional trainings, seminars and similar educational activities, and hold the view that research contribute to the development of professionalism of nursing. The number of nurses who have membership to professional association and who could implement their decision into actions were also low, whereas they acknowledged the need for ethical principles in guiding the decision making process. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the views of nurses on nursing did not meet the professionalism criteria at a desirable level.