Charting the Course of the Nursing Professional Identity: A Qualitative Descriptive Study on the Identity of Nurses Working in Care for Older Adults.

AIMS: To explore and describe the meaning of nurses working in care for older adults give to the nursing professional identity. DESIGN: A qualitative approach was taken. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 bachelor and vocational-educated nurses working in care for older adults. Interviews were conducted between December 2019 and May 2020. Data were analysed and interpreted through inductive content analysis. RESULTS: Five themes embody the meaning of the nursing professional identity of nurses who work in care for older adults. The five themes are: born to care: a lifelong motivation to nursing; nursing through the noise: dedication in a demanding profession; the silent backbone: caught in the crossfire of interdisciplinary teams; learning under pressure: the demand for expanded nursing expertise and against the current: the barriers to advocacy in nursing. CONCLUSION: The professional nursing identity of nurses working in care for older adults is multi-faceted. A personal dedication to patient care, where patients 'human' aspect is heavily valued, commits nurses to their profession and underscores their dedication to upholding the quality standard in nursing practice. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION: The older adults' nursing identity highlights that nursing deserves acknowledgement as a professional occupation. Nurses should speak to the public about their professional roles to improve the public view of older adult nursing. IMPACT: A clear understanding of the older adult nursing professional identity clarifies specific roles, experiences and expectations. This can help attract and retain nurses whose views of older adult nursing align with the nursing professional identity. This could help resolve nurse turnover and reduce shortages in older adult care. REPORTING METHOD: We adhered to Consolidated Criteria For Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

Enhancing sense of belonging in nursing student clinical placements to advance learning and identity development.

Clinical placements are considered one of the "hallmarks" of nursing education. In these settings, students can build upon their theoretical learning by applying knowledge, practicing skills, connecting with nurses and other medical professionals, and creating opportunities to work with diverse populations. As a result, students begin to hone their nurse identity, and build confidence and self-esteem. Importantly, the development of a nursing identity through clinical placement work is improved by integrating opportunities that increase belongingness. Campus climate plays a significant role in creating the environment necessary for belongingness to flourish and leads to enhanced student learning. Taking the role of positive campus climate into consideration, this article argues that instructors supervising undergraduate nursing students in clinical learning environments must create inclusive climates for their students to increase positive educational outcomes. Specific recommendations for creating inclusive clinical learning environments are provided.

Transforming outcome expectations into retention among hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study.

AIM: To examine the main effects and interaction effects of outcome expectations (e.g., anticipated satisfactory salary and benefits), nurse identity (a sense of membership in the nursing profession), and information-access efficiency of the electronic medical record system (how the system enables nurses to quickly retrieve the needed information) on nurses' retention. DESIGN: This study uses a cross-sectional survey and adopts proportionate random sampling to recruit a representative sample of nurses of a medical centre in Taiwan. METHODS: This study successfully obtained completed questionnaires from 430 nurses during December 2021 to January 2022. Data are analysed by using hierarchical regressions. RESULTS: Positive outcome expectations and identification as a member in the nursing profession are associated with retention. Information-access efficiency strengthens the link between outcome expectations and retention, while nurse identity weakens this link. CONCLUSION: Outcome expectations can help retain nurses, particularly those who perceive high levels of information-access efficiency and possess weak nurse identity. That is, outcome expectations have a complementary role with nurse identity in retaining nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION: Nurse managers should devise means to build positive outcome expectations for nurses. In addition, either strengthening nurses' identification with the nursing profession or improving the information-access efficiency of the electronic medical system may also help retain nurses. IMPACT: This study examined how to transform outcome expectation to nurse retention, offering nurse managers to devise new means to retain nurses. REPORTING METHOD: STROBE statement was chosen as EQUATOR checklist. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

Utilizing the mental health nursing workforce: A scoping review of mental health nursing clinical roles and identities.

Despite rising international needs for mental health practitioners, the mental health nursing workforce is underutilized. This is in part due to limited understandings of their roles, identities, and capabilities. This paper aimed to collate and synthesize published research on the clinical roles of mental health nurses in order to systematically clarify their professional identity and potential. We searched for eligible studies, published between 2001 and 2021, in five electronic databases. Abstracts of retrieved studies were independently screened against exclusion and inclusion criteria (primarily that studies reported on the outcomes associated with mental health nursing roles). Decisions of whether to include studies were through researcher consensus guided by the criteria. The search yielded 324 records, of which 47 were included. Retained papers primarily focused on three themes related to mental health nursing clinical roles and capabilities. Technical roles included those associated with psychotherapy, consumer safety, and diagnosis. Non-technical roles and capabilities were also described. These included emotional intelligence, advanced communication, and reduction of power differentials. Thirdly, the retained papers reported the generative contexts that influenced clinical roles. These included prolonged proximity with consumers with tensions between therapeutic and custodial roles. The results of this scoping review suggest the mental health nurses (MHNs) have a wide scope of technical skills which they employ in clinical practice. These roles are informed by a distinctive cluster of non-technical capabilities to promote the well-being of service users. They are an adaptable and underutilized component of the mental health workforce in a context of escalating unmet needs for expert mental health care.

Released potential: a qualitative study of the Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program in Australia.

The Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program (MHNIP) is a Commonwealth Government funded scheme that supports people living with a mental illness. Despite its significance, the program has received little attention from researchers nor critical discussion within the published work. This paper first critically examines the MHNIP from the contexts of identities, autonomy, and capabilities of mental health nurses (MHN) and then reports on findings from a qualitative study that explored the experiences of staff working in the MHNIP. Key findings from this qualitative study include four main themes indicating that both the program and the nurses working within it are addressing the unmet needs of people living with a mental illness. They achieve these ends by adopting holistic and consumer-centred approaches and by providing a wide range of therapeutic interventions. As well, the MHN in this study valued the freedom and autonomy of their practice outside public health services and the respect received from colleagues working in other disciplines. Findings suggest that MHN within the study were experienced as having autonomous identities and roles that may be in contrast to the restrictive understandings of MHN capability within the program's funding rules.