Nursing professional capital: a qualitative analysis
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Published on: June 21, 2010
Sue Lasiter1, Susan M McLennon
1Author affiliations: Assistant Professor (Dr Lasiter), Department of Community and Health Systems, and Associate Professor (Dr McLennon), Department of the Science of Nursing Care, Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to offer qualitative support for the assertion that nurses possess professional capital.
Background:
Nurses embrace professional standards and tenets that have been measured as trust and ethics. By understanding forms of capital and combining quantitative public-opinion surveys and our qualitative findings, a case can be made that nurses possess professional capital.
Method:
This was a focused review of existing interview data and was conducted using inductive content analysis.
Findings:
Patients provided unsolicited accounts of trust and positive regard for their nurses.
Conclusion:
Evidence supports that in combination with trust and positive regard, nurses possess professional capital. Nurses should judiciously use their professional capital to impact institutional, political, and economic policy.
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