Professional and Personal Development

CHAPTER 10

Nursing as a
Profession
• Profession is “an occupation or calling
requiring advanced training and experience in
some specific or specialized body of
knowledge which provides service to society
in that specific field.”

• Nursing is an occupation requiring a unique

body of knowledge, skills and which serves
society.
 Criteria of a Profession
• A profession must satisfy and indispensable
social need and must be based upon well
established and socially accepted scientific
principles.
• It must demand adequate pre-professional
and cultural training.
• It must demand the possession of a body of
specialized and systematized training.
• It gives evidence of needed skills which the
pubic does not possess; that is, skill which are
partly inherent and partly acquired.
• It must have developed a scientific technique
which is the result of tested experienced.
• It must require the exercise of discretion and
judgment as to time and manner of the
performance of duty.
• It must have a group of consciousness designed to
extend scientific knowledge in technical language.
• It must have sufficient self-impelling power to
retain its members throughout life. It must not be
used as a mere stepping stone to other
occupations.
• It must recognize its obligations to society by
insisting that its members live up to an established
code of ethics.
 Definition of a Professional Nurse
• Is a person who has completed a basic nursing
educational program and is licensed in his/her
country or state to practice professional
nursing.
Qualifications and Abilities of a Professional
Nurse
• A. Professional preparation
– A nurse must:
• Have a license to practice nursing in the country
• Have a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing
• Be physically and mentally fit.
• B. Personal Qualities and Professional
proficiencies
– Interest and willingness to work and learn with
individuals/group in a variety of settings
– A warm personality and concern for people
– Resourcefulness and creativity as well as well-
balanced emotional condition
– Capacity and ability to work cooperatively with
others
• Initiative to improve self and service
• Competence in performing work through the
use of nursing process
• Skill in decision-making, communicating and
relating with other and being research
oriented
• Active participation in issues confronting
nurses and nursing.
 BSN Curriculum
• The four-year Bachelor of Arts in Nursing
program offers a competency-based
community oriented curriculum to educate
future nurse practitioners to assume their
roles and responsibilities in the Philippine
Health Care System.
• It aims to prepare nurses for entry level
position in any health care setting in the
country.
• Specifically, the end-program competencies,
also referred to as terminal competencies,
expect a graduate to:
1. Utilize the nursing process in the care of
individuals families and community.
2. Communicate effectively at all levels of health
care in various settings.
3. Utilize the elements of management in any
heath care setting
4. Utilize research findings in the care of the
clients
5. Assume responsibility for persona and
professional growth and development.
• The BSN program intends to produce a professional
nurse who demonstrate the following behaviors:
– Caring behavior( compassionate, competent and
committed
– Ability to practice legal ethico-moral, social
responsibilities/accountabilities
– Critical and creative thinking
– Skill in practicing S-K-A and values for the promotion of
health, prevention of illness, restoration of health,
alleviation of suffering, assisting clients to face death with
dignity and in peace.
License Practice Nursing
• A license is a legal document given by the
government that permits a person to offer to
the public his or her skills and knowledge in a
particular jurisdiction, where such practice
whould otherwise be unlawful without
license.
 Need for Licensure
• The primary purpose of registration is to
protect the health of the people by
establishing minimum standards which
qualified practitioners must met.
• Licensure discourages certain persons who
may be tempted to misrepresent themselves
as nurses.
• It is the most important tool for legal control
and enforcement if nursing practice.
 Registration by Examination
• Sec 12-Licensure Examination
– All applicants for registration as a nurse and
issuance of a certificate of registration and
professional identification card to practice nursing
shall be required to a pass a written examination
which shall be given by the Board in such places
and dates as may be designated by the
Commission.
• Sec. 13 – Qualifications for Admission to the
Licensure Examination.
– Is a citizen of the Philippines, or a subject of a country
which permits Filipino nurses to practice within its
territorial limits on the same basis as the subject or
citizen of such country.
– Is good moral character
– Is a holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from a
college or university that complies with the standards
of nursing education duly recognized by the proper
government agency.