[Professionalism in nursing: difference between theoretical learning and clinical activity]

There still seems to exist some dichotomy in nursing education between theoretical achievements and clinical practice, a key moment to verify applied knowledge and put it into practice. The aim with the present study is to compare activities considered professionalizing at a theoretical level with activities being performed during clinical practice. The instrument utilised to collect data was a questionnaire on nurse-professionalism using a Likert scale. The subject participating in the study were 3rd year nursing students from three universities in Rome. The results clearly shows how the theoretical preparation of nurse students is in contrast with clinical practice performance. The only nursing area where theory and practice seem to correspond is that of individualised nursing care, the biggest gap between theory and practice was found concerning research activities.