Nursing Image and Self-Concept: When Professional Agendas and Political Ideologies are in Conflict

Abstract

Nursing as a profession and nurses as individual practitioners need to balance their professional obligations and values alongside societal expectations. Ideally, these would be in alignment, creating a context that supports the work of the nurse and the development of the professional role. Increasingly, shifting aspects have become apparent in both the self-image and public image of nurses and the nursing profession. Expectations, understanding, and beliefs about what it means to be a nurse continue to evolve, and the capacity to enact core values associated with nursing has come under pressure. The professional underpinnings, traditional values, and behaviors of nurses are impacted by changing social, political, and economic circumstances. Global shifts in health-care capacity, treatment policies, and nursing scopes of practice have been compounded by the lasting impact of pandemics, conflict, and polarizing political movements. Nurses in many countries are working in situations of reduced resources and higher expectations, and facing the impact of an aging workforce and patient populations. A growing focus on political activism and the need to speak out on behalf of patients has become a concern in the face of increasingly nationalist ideologies. Nurses are challenged by ethical, legal, and clinical risks in their practice, and this, in turn, is creating tension in the way that nursing is represented.