Professional Paper – Nursing Professionalism

A visit to a professional therapist would not involve them poking fun at and ridiculing past decisions, but meeting a professional comedian just might. Professionalism is different for each profession. The profession of nursing has its own expected standards of professionalism that patients expect and deserve when seeking help. As nursing students, there are various ways to demonstrate professionalism, including engaging in continuing professional development, establishing trust, and showing compassion. Even though nursing students are not yet nurses, demonstrating professionalism as students can help them develop into the professionals they aim to be.

Nursing professionalism can be challenging to define in a single term, given the wide range of roles within nursing; however, many principles apply regardless of the role a nurse chooses to work in. According to Butler (2025), nursing professionalism encompasses “ethical practice, accountability, compassion, empathy, cultural competence, and a commitment to ongoing education and professional development.” While this is not an exhaustive list, as a professional nurse, these are all attributes that patients should expect to see and even demand when they enter a healthcare setting. Nursing professionalism ultimately comes down to the public’s perception of what a nurse is and what they represent. Generations of nurses have shaped the image and understanding of patients regarding the role of nurses in healthcare and their own health. Student nurses can demonstrate nursing professionalism by exhibiting the attributes established and promoted by nursing organizations. Helping to shape the public’s perception as they interact with patients on a day-to-day basis. An example of a nurse exhibiting professionalism would be a nurse who demonstrates accountability. An accountable nurse will still make mistakes, but will be willing to do the right thing when the mistake occurs, choosing not to cover it up. If a nurse makes a medication error, for example, an accountable nurse will ensure patient safety and report it to their supervisor and the physician. When patients’ lives are at risk, having trust that their healthcare team will do the right thing and help them achieve a speedy recovery is crucial. If the patient perceives that the nurses are accountable, they can rest easier knowing they are in good hands. Accountability is not the only expectation placed on a professional nurse. Having a healthcare team that continues to receive education as new information becomes available can be another way to demonstrate professionalism.

Researchers reviewed a total of 25 articles examining nurses’ experiences with continuing professional development. “Nurses reported that CPD (continuing professional development) raises professional standards through competencies gained, thereby increasing professional performance with positive benefits for patients, organizations, and individual nurses” (Mlambo et al., 2021). The fact that continuing professional development benefits not only nurses and organizations, but also patients, clearly demonstrates that continuing professional development should be a part of nursing professionalism. Student nurses who are actively in school and continuing to develop professionally should understand that education does not stop when school does. Continuing to develop over a lifetime and gain new knowledge and skills is at the core of being a nurse. Nurses can participate in workshops and seminars to further their education or even join additional programs to enhance the quality of patient care (Mlambo et al., 2021).

Another way that nursing students can demonstrate professionalism, although not explicitly listed in the original definition, is by gaining the trust of those they work with. Gaining patient trust is particularly crucial in a clinical setting where patients seek the best possible care. A patient trusting a student nurse to provide that level of care should not be taken lightly. “Trust is imperative and often linked to personal sharing and intimacy, personality and attitude, and a level of reciprocity, which is important if nurses are truly going to understand their patient needs” (McBride, 2025). Trust is not something nursing students need just for their patients to listen to them and follow their advice; it also goes the other way. A patient who trusts their nurse is willing to share and help the nurse in understanding the patient’s needs. A patient’s willingness to share information when they trust the nurse taking care of them makes trustworthiness a must when it comes to nursing professionalism. Nurses who continue to learn on the job, as well as pursue their professional development, are also in a better position to gain patient trust and demonstrate nursing professionalism.

Compassion also falls under the umbrella of nursing professionalism, though this attribute requires a balance. Issues such as compassion fatigue or compassion leading to a breach in a nurse’s professional conduct are not unheard of in the nursing profession. On the other hand, excluding compassion from the field of nursing has its own potentially harmful side effects that may do more harm than good. Cutting out compassion also makes patient-centered care more challenging to deliver, especially when the nurse is experiencing compassion fatigue. So how can nursing students determine the appropriate levels of compassion? Khosravani et al. (2017) found that nurses with a well-developed sense of conscience had an easier time showing compassion without jeopardizing their professional obligations to the patient. With this in mind, students should learn the why behind rules established in the nursing profession, not just what the rules are. Understanding the reasoning behind the rules can help nurses maintain the professional side of their practice and establish a “well-developed sense of conscience” (Khosravani et al., 2017). Knowing the boundaries to set with a patient will enable nurses to exhibit the highest level of compassion within the professional bounds established. Setting boundaries will help student nurses maintain compassion and all other aspects of nursing professionalism when faced with an ethical dilemma in clinical and workforce settings.

In conclusion, nursing professionalism is a vital set of attributes that nurses have developed over generations of nursing. Patients’ perception of nurses is primarily based on the interactions they have had with other nurses. Nurses and student nurses should keep these values in mind when interacting with patients, including continuing professional development, establishing trust, and demonstrating compassion. As students work to incorporate attributes like these into their personal and professional lives, they can effectively deliver patient-centered care.

References

Butler, S. (2024). Exploring the perception and reality of professionalism in UK nursing. Nursing Management, 31(6). https://doi.org/10.7748/nm.2024.e2144

Khosravani, M., Abedi, H., lak, S., Rafiei, F., & Rahzani, K. (2017). The association between conscience understanding and clinical performance among nurses working at education hospital of Arak. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 10(6), 1587. https://doi.org/10.4103/atmph.atmph_533_17

McBride, M. (2025). The code and community nursing: promoting professionalism and trust. British Journal of Community Nursing, 30(8), 370–372. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjcn.2025.0132

Mlambo, M., Silén, C., & McGrath, C. (2021). Lifelong learning and nurses' continuing professional development, a metasynthesis of the literature. BMC Nursing, 20(1). http://dx.doi.org.eac.idm.oclc.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00579-2