Is nursing a profession

¶ … Nursing a Profession?

The world of work is a daily reality for many people. Indeed, any physically and mentally healthy adult is expected to find some form of employment to support him- or herself and any dependents there may be. It follows that there are many professions and jobs to choose from. Some of these can be categorized as unskilled labor, such as working as a sales clerk at a fast-food outlet. Others require a degree of skill or study. These can be referred to as professions, since they tend to be chosen for their long-term possibilities and their fit to the personality or specific passions of the professional. On a slightly higher level, there are those professions that can be considered a calling. Ministers of religion, for example, tend to regard themselves as "called." In my view, nursing is therefore not only a profession, but also a calling. Professional nurses need certain training and licensing to practice their work, making it a highly professional endeavor. In addition, nursing provides not only the satisfaction of a difficult job well done, but also the satisfaction of human connection through health care.

The purpose of this paper is therefore to show that nursing is both a profession and a calling, since it goes beyond mererly providing a product or service as most other professions do.

In terms of professional requirements, nursing is both a highly skilled and a highly academic profession. To practice the profession, nurses need years of study in various subject fields, including anatomy and psychology. In addition, various types of licensing is required for nurses to practice, which further legitimizes the work as a professional field. According to the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN, 2013), for example, standards for nursing programs are set by the Board in order to ensure the consistent training and excellence of trained and licensed nurses. In California alone, there are more than 140 prelicensure nursing programs. There are also more than 50 advanced practice programs approved under the requirements of the Board. The fact that there is an official entity that oversees the quality of training programs for prelicensed and licensed nurses provides legitimacy to the profession. Those who enter the profession are themselves also evaluated on a continuous basis to ensure that their work is of an acceptable standard. Hence license renewals are required for nurses who want to continue practicing. Licensure applicants must therefore complete particular educational requirements, write a national licensing examiniation, and be free from any criminal activities or convictions. Hence, because of these highly stringent requirements in terms of both education and personal integrity, nursing can be considered a profession.

The profession is not only a profession, however. Unlike many other professions, nursing is also a calling. The main reason for this is the nature of the work, being highly involved in not only ensuring the physical health of patients, but also their mental and psychological well-being while in care of the hospital and nurse. This requires a very specific personality type. Nursing requires an individual to be highly concerned with and empathetic towards his or her fellow human beings. This deep and personal empathy creates a platform for being called to a caring profession such as nursing.

Those who would refute this argument might note that many other professions also require an emotional or cognitive talent that is beyond the scope of the learning required to simply perform the job. A lawyer, for example, needs an exceptional talent for public speaking and persuasion, which cannot be taught. Certainly nursing cannot be distinguished from all other professions because of its extra-learning component.

I would argue, however, that it can. By saying that nursing is both a calling and a profession, I am not saying that no other profession contains an extra-learning component. I am simply saying that the calling that is nursing is unique to the profession, in the same way that a call to religious ministry is unique. Hence, nursing is distinguished from other professions based upon the specific nature of the calling it involves. It is also identified as a more than a profession, because it includes both learning and a specific caring component that cannot be acquired by learning.