i am a nursing student at the university of colorado health science center. one of my current courses is role development in professional nursing practice. this week one or our readings posed an interesting question, to define nursing. should nursing be defined as a profession, a practice, or as work? i found this to be difficult to answer the following is what i have posted in my online course. i am hopeful to get some additional insight from experienced nurses and their prospective. if anyone is willing to he me find a better understanding on this point it would be much appreciated.
the following is what i have already submitted to my class:
how do liaschenko and peter define nursing as profession, as practice and as work?
i believe that liaschenko and peter are defining nursing as work. there are statements within this paper that show that in the past that nursing has been defined as a profession or as a practice. liaschenko and peter explain their rational as to why nursing is not a profession or a practice. they go on to introduce a definition of nursing as work rather than a profession or practice stating that the definitions prior to work are to limiting or inaccurate. i believe that they like their predecessors are attempting to categorize nursing as a single definable inadequate definition. i am not sure that there is a single word be it work, profession, or practice that would be encompassing enough to be termed a definition for nursing. i hold the same belief as olga ellis stated in her posting that any definition of nursing should “include and combine such words as a calling, profession, practice, work, science, ethics, and pshycology of relationships.”
one question i have is why is there a push, need, importance to define nursing as one particular word which dose not seem to accomplish the ideal of providing a meaning in which society can then gain a greater understanding of what nursing actually is.
